Modern Weights and Measurements of Wild Lions

[AndresVida]

(08-24-2022, 07:15 PM)Pckts Wrote: Just to add to my last comment…
What exactly changed from the time Smutts and Hamilton were capturing their lions to now?

Lions of that huge size are not common. Some weights are obtained by asking countless reserves, people and that with many people. Such weights do not fall from the sky. 

There have been quite a few weights from reserves that were proven. But we also obtained large lions from the kruger nationalpark recently with 5 adult males ranging ranging from 230-240 kg (heaviest 240 kg) and not eating since 2 days. Including two males of 225 kg.

There are people who have much more deep knowledge to determine how well a population is doing.

One of the factors why lions from east africa are commonly 150-160 kg or basically in a bad condition is because of the high competition, mortality and prey poor season. But there are countless other factors.

The paper "Age assignment of African lions" from Funston may be a bit helpful to get an idea. Reply