ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - D - THE LEOPARD (Panthera pardus)

[peter]

POCOCK ON MR. LIMOUZIN'S SKULL

Almost a century ago, a Mr. Limouzin shot a very large leopard in India. At least, he thought it was a leopard. Same for Mr. Prater, a big cat authority who saw the skull. As a result of the unusual size and the doubts expressed by some, the skull was discussed in the JBNHS.

Poster 'Luipaard' recently posted a part of the discussion in the thread 'Size Comparisons'. When I said the skull belonged to a tiger, he wanted to see proof. The reason was he got the informaton on Mr. Limouzin's specimen from an authority who had published on the skull. I posted a paragraph of Pocock's letter to the JBNHS and promised I would scan and post his letter. Here it is.

As not all of us have the time to read his letter, I'll do a summary.

When the skull of the big cat shot by Mr. Limouzin had been found, Mr. Prater published a photograph of the side view (profile) of the skull together with photographs of an Indian leopard, a tiger and a lion. Pocock saw the photograph and quickly concluded the skull belonged to a tiger. This decision was not accepted by Mr. Limouzin and Mr. Prater. Pocock offered to examine the skull. Mr. Limouzin accepted the offer and brought the skull to the Natural History Museum in October 1929, when he returned to England. Pocock had it for a week and again concluded it was the skull of a tiger. Or, to be more precise, the skull of a young adult tigress. Adult in the sense of being sexually mature, but youngish in that the sutures hadn't quite closed. Pocock didn't doubt that age would have added a bit of length and, in particular, width.

In December 1929, he sent a letter to the JBNHS. It has two plates (at the end):

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

Here's the two plates:

*This image is copyright of its original author

I'll do another post on the skull of Mr. Limouzin in the tiger thread. That post will have a bit more on tiger and leopard skulls, including photographs and, when I finished them, a few tables.

Most 'authorities' agree it isn't easy to distinguish between lion and tiger skulls. They also say big cat skulls are quite similar in many respects. I measured close to 400 and concluded the differences between species are both pronounced and consistent. There's some overlap, especially in skulls of big cats born and bred in captivity, but in skulls of wild big cats the differences often are seen at a glance.

I'll try to get to an overview in the post in the tiger thread. Reply