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Largest Living wild lions ?
Largest Living wild lions ?
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Largest Living wild lions ?
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This thread is created to discuss on largest living wild lions. I am looking other members if they can put some more information on it, because there is no proper data or information on this topic on internet (at least according to my search).
Just Like Kaziranga Tigers are considered to be largest Tiger among all Tiger, I think According to my knowledge Botswana’s Duba lions from Africa are the largest living lion species. They have become strictly Cape Buffalo eaters according to this link Picture of botswana lion  *This image is copyright of its original author 
Hard to assess as there is little data on the Duba lions. Likewise with Ngoragora lions.
I don't have much information about Ngoragora Lions. But there was documentary name "Relentless Enemies: Lion and Buffalo" made by Dereck and Beverly Joubert. It's shows how lions from duba plains have started eating Buffalo.
Though I agree it's not scientifically prove that Botswana lions are largest but the sources and images say something similar. @Pantherinae and @vizions may put some more light here. 
Okavango LionsLions are of course one of the Big Five and are an iconic symbol of a safari, and their powerful roar can be heard over 5km away. These large tan cats are hugely social animals that live in groups called prides. Prides can have between 3 and 30 members in them. They usually prefer the open savannahs, but there are Lions found in desert conditions and the swamps of the Okavango Delta.Lions are found in most areas of the Okavango, including swampy areas where you might not expect to see them. In fact Lions in the Okavango have learnt to swim in pursuit of their prey. As a result many prides in the Delta have move developed fore quarters due to all the swimming they do.There are two prides of Lions that live in the Duba plains region that are in a continual battle with a large herd of Buffalo that number many thousands. Buffalo are generally the favourite prey of Lions, and rangers have a common saying that ‘where there’s Buffalo, there are Lions’. The Lions of the Duba Plains have developed the habit of hunting during the day, which is unusual, as most Lion hunt at night.Another famous pride of Lions was from the Savute region. This pride became famous because they learnt to hunt Elephants. Elephants were generally thought to be above predation other than when they are small. This large pride of 30 Lions learnt to work as a team to bring down large Elephants when other prey was scarce. However, the Savuti River has started flowing in recent years, and easier prey has moved into the area. The pride has split into smaller groups and the Elephant hunts seem to have stopped for now.Lions are not generally known to be good climbers, maybe having a half hearted attempt to steal a Leopards kill from where it has been hidden in the fork of a tree. Several Lions have been seen climbing trees in the Okavango and using the branches as a vantage point to look across the Delta.
http://okavango-delta.botswana.co.za/lio...vango.html another article http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...sland.html Here is a quote and video on a "300lb lioness" but don't think she is actually weighed http://americablog.com/2013/03/lion-snif...swana.html http://www.okavangodeltasafaris.com/wildlife.html Heres a ton of safari pictures from the Okavango http://www.safaribookings.com/okavango/photos I don't see any weights for these cats though, and its to hard to judge from the few pictures of males I have seen so far. 
Yeah I agree even tho I'm not The biggest fan of eyewitneses because people will say different thing, but Dereck and Beverly Joubert has seen Lions all over Africa for many years and he had no doubts, other eyewitneses has also said some other Lions in The okavango is also very big Maybe not as muscular, but they Looks huge as they say! Great thred Sanjay! The lion I posten early'er who was estimated at 240 kg by The wild life vet, was also from Okavango and did not look like The biggest lion I have seen from okavango! But that's just speculation I'm sure in weight these and Kaziranga tigers are The biggest of their spicies! Would love to have The weights from duba! Remember duba has just been separated from The mainland for 10 years or so. Ad The male Lions just seems to Get bigger and bigger as cubs grow very fast and The females Looks like tanks! And The male Lions are very big. I know it's not right to compare a captive animal ti a wild animal. But I'm quite sure The lionesses at duba is bigger than The lionesses in The animal park I work and. And The male at duba is much bigger compared to The females than aslan is to The lionesses at kr.sand animal park. So The weight is very fun to speculate how big they can be..
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@Pckts Here is a quote and video on a "300lb lioness" but don't think she is actually weighed http://americablog.com/2013/03/lion-snif...swana.html this lioness is from Moremi! And from The Xakanaxa pride! They lives in The pride with Renoka and lekan The two massive male Lions. Maybe my favorite male Lions! Here You can see how big these male Lions are compared to his females It's rare to see such difference in male and female Lions this is to me extrodanary, probably have seen this before, but still fun to watch :-) (08-19-2014, 12:03 AM)'Pantherinae' Wrote: Yeah I agree even tho I'm not The biggest fan of eyewitneses because people will say different thing, but Dereck and Beverly Joubert has seen Lions all over Africa for many years and he had no doubts, other eyewitneses has also said some other Lions in The okavango is also very big Maybe not as muscular, but they Looks huge as they say! Great thred Sanjay! The lion I posten early'er who was estimated at 240 kg by The wild life vet, was also from Okavango and did not look like The biggest lion I have seen from okavango! But that's just speculation I'm sure in weight these and Kaziranga tigers are The biggest of their spicies! Would love to have The weights from duba! Remember duba has just been separated from The mainland for 10 years or so. Ad The male Lions just seems to Get bigger and bigger as cubs grow very fast and The females Looks like tanks! And The male Lions are very big. I know it's not right to compare a captive animal ti a wild animal. But I'm quite sure The lionesses at duba is bigger than The lionesses in The animal park I work and. And The male at duba is much bigger compared to The females than aslan is to The lionesses at kr.sand animal park. So The weight is very fun to speculate how big they can be.. Who knows for sure, at least some Assam tiger weights have been taken and they seem large, they actually had the largest skull size of any of the others I compared to them though. So it helps a little when comparing them to others from different areas. But the info was minimal to say the least. Have their been any weights taken of any lions from Okavongo? Just something to compare at least. Could shed a little light. (08-19-2014, 12:12 AM)'Pantherinae' Wrote: ] They seem large but its way to hard to compare to a female to get a real size. Females flucuate in weight same as males. Some are 120kg some are close to 190kg, so its hard to really scale them. I don't think I agree with their statement on females being as large as males from different areas, unless we are talking about Waza. There just isn't that much fluxuation in African lions, so a female would have to be a freak speciman or a male would have to be smaller sized if the statement were to be true.
These are not the only lions weighed but can give us a idea of lion weights in different areas and we can compare the areas that are closet to the Delta. I would need a little help on that though.
 *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author There is just not that much of a area to area difference in lions. So Id be curious to see what the true differences would be.
Zambia is pretty close to The delta and they averaged at 202 kg. I think
Well Maybe The lionesses are not as big framewhise, but they are very muscular and The females can weigh as much as an normal male else where. The shoulders these lionesses has are very impressive! Also They are targeting calves and females and can eat buffalo almost The whole year, and that's not The Botswana Lions just and only The duba plains lion. And they can probably have an unusual big size. I think it would be amazing to have some weights from duba plains! Also The duba boys a coallition of two male Lions where actually quite small, Maybe because they lived there before The island got separated, their son Junior is just huge. And he is by far The most impressive lion I have ever seen, if You think that these Lionesses are massive and still he is so big compared to them! Here is a video of Junior chasing his son! (08-19-2014, 02:13 AM)'Pantherinae' Wrote: Zambia is pretty close to The delta and they averaged at 202 kg. I think He looks to be large, but comparing him to females is not fool proof. Like I stated, females come in all shapes and sizes. Even from different areas, they still range in sizes. Here is a example, it is for Tigers but still can be applied with the lions  *This image is copyright of its original author If you notices, Sariska has the lowest weight for Male tigers but the highest weight for female tigers, in this limited # of individuals. Also Kruger Lions had the 3rd highest average weight for Males and Females yet it had the largest weight measured for any male. Its just too hard to look at a female compared to a male and judge his size unless we have previous eye witness knowledge or data on the female. I just usually assume a female is between 120kg-180kg and judge the male that way. (08-19-2014, 02:13 AM)'Pantherinae' Wrote: Zambia is pretty close to The delta and they averaged at 202 kg. I think Where can I find Zambia lion weights? The ones I see are not that high. Here is a few more weights  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author Where are these places compared to Okavongo?
Weights from Smuts compared to captive weights. Actually pretty interesting to see the similiarities in size between captive and wild lions.
 *This image is copyright of its original author I did notice that Wild lions are much heavier at birth and take much longer to mature, if I'm reading this correctly?  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author (08-19-2014, 12:12 AM)'Pantherinae' Wrote: ] The male in this vid is a big boy. Not going to speculate on his weight, but will say he appears quite large. Great thread BTW! |
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