Captive Lion and Tiger weights

[bigcatsmane]

(12-24-2024, 06:26 PM)peter Wrote: BIGCATSMANE

Welcome to Wildfact. We hope you enjoy your time over here. 

Your first posts were appreciated. However.

Wildfact has a bit of a reputation. The reason is we offer readers reliable information. This means we expect our members to post reliable information about the size (weight) of captive big cats as well. Your post about the 465 pound male lion is reliable. The reason is the lion was actually weighed. Your post about the lion 'about 500 pounds', however, isn't. It could be he really is 'about' 500 pounds, but you always need to add a reliable source. I'm not writing this post to discourage you, but my experience is keepers often under- or overestimate the weight of the animals they know. I've seen it time and again. It really takes a lot of experience to get close to the actual weight of a big cat. 

Here's an example of how an adult wild male lion compares to an adult human. Notice the large skull and the length (referring to the head and body length measured in a straight line). The lion is quite robust and in excellent health. A large male without a shadow of doubt: 

*This image is copyright of its original author

  

The question is how heavy the lion is (he was weighed). 

Longtime members no doubt saw the photograph before. They know the answer to the question, that is. Our request is to keep quiet and wait for the answer of 'Bigcatmanes'.

That young lion weighed 203 kg.. I know him, he is huge. He has a head-body length of more than 2 meters in a straight line.

I don't understand what you're trying to prove with that photo though. I mean, an animal's frame or its body dimensions are not (always) related to its own body mass.


Check this (very) old lion, somewhat skinny in body and barely larger than his female in frame, weighed 217 kg (heavier than any Amur tiger reported in the scientific literature, for example):

*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

...Or this small-bodied Grizzly that weighed almost 500 pounds:

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

Or the Amur Tiger Maurice captured by the Siberian Tiger Project, who, despite its massive dimensions, weighed less than 400 pounds.


Oh, don't worry, I'm extremely detailed with the information I publish. Believe me, I've also had many surprises and disappointments with supposed big cats with huge masses that in the end turned out to be either false or never confirmed. If there's one thing I hate, it's misinformation and unconfirmed data. It really drives me crazy not to be certain about something, It is difficult to find someone as meticulous and fussy as I am about the weight and cize of wild animals.


About the lion and your question about its mass, I assume you are referring to the Habitat Ranch Lion. To be honest, i don't see the slightest reason to doubt its reported mass, not at all.
I mean, the zookeeper gave very specific weights on other animals during the tour as well, it's a simple and direct confirmation from her. Zookeepers along with doctors and veterinarians are the highest authorities when it comes to reporting weights of their captive animals.. sow, I see no reason to doubt it.

Other than that, at no point does she say "about" 500 pounds male lion, she says it weighs 500 lbs quickly and directly, she's giving you information about the animal she has behind her, its name, age, weight, something very common and expected from a zookeeper. Nothing makes me think she's estimating it. It would be a different story if he had said, "I'd say our lion Bendly weighs approximately 500 lbs" Then I'd have more reason to doubt his statement, since he's not confirming anything, he's just guessing, and estimates are one of the least reliable and credible ways of knowing the mass of any animal, even more so for felines, who fluctuate a lot in this department. But as I said, this is not the case.

Plus, we have a lot of weights in this thread where they also say "around" and I haven't seen you question them, we have quite a few posted where zookeepers say their masses, we have tons of unconfirmed weights of many felines (mainly amur tigers) with weights of "500-600-700 lbs" where the source is random magazines or newspaper articles and I haven't seen you question any of them at all, You even gave some of them MG and congratulated whoever posted it. 
So... why are you doing it here? In this particular case? I'm genuinely curious about your response, Peter

If you can prove to me that the weight is entirely an estimate then I will apologize and delete the post immediately. I repeat, I hate nothing more than misinformation. We already have enough misinformation on the Internet in general about the animal kingdom, what I want is to fight it just like you.

I'm sorry for going on so long, thanks for the welcome! I really appreciate it. Merry christmas! Reply