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Modern Weights and Measurements of Leopards
Modern Weights and Measurements of Leopards
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Modern Weights and Measurements of Leopards
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MADIBA!
HAS OKONJIMA FOUND ITS NEW KING? With a weight of 76 kg and body length of 120 cm MADIBA is officially the biggest collared cat ever recorded in the history of Okonjima, equalling a male leopard caught during the first leopard research project we did on Okonjima farm during 1997, 1998 and 1999. READ FULL STORY ON OUR GROUP PAGE: http://www.facebook.com/groups/AfriCat/  *This image is copyright of its original author
Body and Skull Protocol for Trophy hunts through the SCI
"2. Measurements (included on hunt return form) The following body measurements should be taken for every lion and leopard trophy before the animal is skinned: a) Body length (cm, tip of nose to tip of tail; Measurement A–C) b) Shoulder height (cm, tip of scapula to end of forepaw; Measurement E) c) Neck circumference - only for leopard (cm, immediately behind the ear; Measurement D) Figure 1: Body measurements to be taken for each trophy before skinning. The following skull measurements should be taken once the skull has been cleaned. a) Skull length (mm, greatest length of skull, measured as a straight line between pegs) b) Skull width (mm, greatest width measured across zygomatic arches) Figure 2: Measurements of skull length and width to be taken for each trophy. PHs and operators routinely measure skull width and height to provide an SCI rating (width + height in inches); however, the SCI rating on its own is of limited use - the individual metrics in mm are needed to estimate age. Diagrams here on Page 2 https://phasa.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/2011-Protocol-for-monitoring-lion-and-leopard-sport-hunting_Final.pdf SCI top 10 from 2014 10.  *This image is copyright of its original author #10A Kirk Kelso took this 18 1/16″ leopard at Malipati, Zimbabwe in 2005.  *This image is copyright of its original author #10B This 18 1/16″ Leopard was taken in 2013 near Shangani, Zimbabwe by Paulo Augusto De Maria Botelho. 9.  *This image is copyright of its original author #9A R. Jody Adams tied the number 9 spot with this nice leopard near Khomas, Namibia. It measures 18 2/16  *This image is copyright of its original author #9B David Tofte took this beauty near Limpopo, RSA in 2014. It measures 18 2/16″ 8.  *This image is copyright of its original author #8A William Mosesian took this magnificent leopard in 1975 in the Luangwa Valley, Zambia. It measures 18 4/16″. Mr. Mosesian is also tied for the number 5 leopard taken in 1986 measuring 18 14/16″. Unfortunately we have no photo of his number 5 leopard.  *This image is copyright of its original author #8B B.H. Smith took this number 8 Ranked cat in Khomas,Namibia in 2008. It measures at 18 4/16'' 7.  *This image is copyright of its original author #7 Dr. R.E. Speegle took this leopard in central Tanzania in 1963. It measured 18 8/16″. 6.  *This image is copyright of its original author #6 Juan Renedo Sedano took this leopard in 1982 in the Republic of South Africa. It measures 18 10/16″. 5.  *This image is copyright of its original author 5 Kris Johnson scored this beauty in 2010 near Mabula, R.S.A. It measured 18 14/16″. 4.  *This image is copyright of its original author 4 In 2009, Phillip Hoisington took this spotted beauty near Windhoek, Namibia. It measured 18 15/16″. 3. Missing from the list 2.  *This image is copyright of its original author 2 Rodney A. Klein poses with his leopard taken in 2001 in Kalahari, R.S.A. It measures 19 10/16″ 1.  *This image is copyright of its original author 1 Steven Chancellor took the number 1 leopard in 1997 in Okavango, Botswana. This magnificent cat scored 19 11/16″. https://huntforever.org/2014/12/30/sci-top-ten-african-leopard/ Top Leopard Skulls Scores not from Hunting.  *This image is copyright of its original author
 (09-04-2019, 12:14 AM)Pckts Wrote: Body and Skull Protocol for Trophy hunts through the SCI The SCI records are a joke. Although, I'm sure some of those leopards were genuinely huge with 17"+ skulls, there's clearly a lot of exaggeration going on. For example, I just don't buy that the all time number 2 leopard killed by Rodney Klein had a 19 10/16" skull. That leopard barely looks mediocre in size and proportions yet we're suppose to believe it had a skull bigger than that of an adult lioness. For SCI and Rowland Ward hunting records, you have to take everything with a grain of salt and look at the source of each individual record on its own. There are certainly some very reliable professional hunters (Wayne Grant for example) who provide very accurate info on the leopards they've hunted. But we can't rely on SCI to do that for us, they've done a terrible job. Which is really unfortunate because a lot of these huge specimens being killed are then lost in a sea of exaggerations and provide no useful data. The Boone and Crockett records on the other hand appear to be of excellent credibility. But unfortunately they only cover North American animals. (09-04-2019, 01:02 AM)chui_ Wrote:Requirements to enter your Record Claim(09-04-2019, 12:14 AM)Pckts Wrote: Body and Skull Protocol for Trophy hunts through the SCI How To Submit an Entry to the Record Book The SCI Record Book of Animals is a living history of our hunting heritage, so accuracy and proper documentation are key.
What happens to my entry once I submit it? The entire Record Book process normally takes 8-12 weeks. The completion of medallion plaques may take up to 4 additional weeks. Please be sure all information is complete and all the proper documentations are submitted otherwise this may hold up your entries from being accepted into the SCI Record Book. Once the Record book entry is processed by staff it is sent to the sub-chair, where the sub-chair will carefully check the information on the score sheet for each entry in his/her batch. The sub-chair will either approve the entry as submitted or will place the entry on hold until additional information is gathered. Once the entries have been approved by the sub-chair the entry will be ranked and a 3x5 certification card is mailed to the SCI member. These cards are the member's final notification on their entry and notifies a member where their animal officially ranks. If a medallion plaque is ordered with the Record Book entry, it will arrive approximately 2-4 weeks after the certification card. Deadline for entry submission for the future Record Book and the Major Awards is March 31st of the corresponding year. https://www.safariclub.org/about-sci-chapters As I understand it, SCI is a data base used by most hunting companies. To win or be recognized in the SCI record book is considered a plus and helps clients make decisions based off of performance of the hunt. Considering Money is involved I have my doubts that they are more or less reliable than any others claimed, I know they are fairly consistent with their weights and very few have been over the 90kg threshold which is in line with Leopards weights from any source. (09-04-2019, 01:14 AM)Pckts Wrote: Considering Money is involved I have my doubts that they are more or less reliable than any others claimed, I know they are fairly consistent with their weights and very few have been over the 90kg threshold which is in line with Leopards weights from any source. The SCI records have nothing to do with weight. Their purpose is to provide measurements of things like horns, antlers, and skulls of animals. The idea is that these trophy remains can be measured and confirmed by a third party long after the animal is killed so there is no bias in measuring. But clearly that doesn't appear to be working. The weight or body length of the animal may be reported by the hunter themselves or the professional hunter involved but it is not recorded in SCI's database. The exception is live captured carnivores where a score is given for the sum of the body dimensions of the animal but this is rarely done and does not apply to trophy hunted specimens. (09-04-2019, 01:27 AM)chui_ Wrote:(09-04-2019, 01:14 AM)Pckts Wrote: Considering Money is involved I have my doubts that they are more or less reliable than any others claimed, I know they are fairly consistent with their weights and very few have been over the 90kg threshold which is in line with Leopards weights from any source. I mentioned this above in the same post but I was editing during your response so it didn't show. I'd imagine their data base is significant and wide reaching, spanning across any reserve that allows Leopard game hunting throughout Africa. I'd think they'd have access to more skulls and measurements than most if not any other modern day source. I'm sure errors occur but I'm not ready to discredit all of them. There are still strict guidelines, rules and regulation to keep the errors minimal. Here you can see a few hunted with their weights, some on the SCI list some not, but some huge Leopards either way. https://www.facebook.com/pg/game.animals/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1411752695512686&ref=page_internal *Scroll through the comment section on the Leopard photos.* The consensus there seems to be that any Leopard near 90kg should be considered a maximum weight (09-04-2019, 01:33 AM)Pckts Wrote:(09-04-2019, 01:27 AM)chui_ Wrote:(09-04-2019, 01:14 AM)Pckts Wrote: Considering Money is involved I have my doubts that they are more or less reliable than any others claimed, I know they are fairly consistent with their weights and very few have been over the 90kg threshold which is in line with Leopards weights from any source. But your post still has the statement about SCI's weights for leopards. They don't record weights for trophy leopards, they only record their skull measurements. Quote:I'd imagine their data base is significant and wide reaching, spanning across any reserve that allows Leopard game hunting throughout Africa. I'd think they'd have access to more skulls and measurements than most if not any other modern day source. I'm sure errors occur but I'm not ready to discredit all of them. There are still strict guidelines, rules and regulation to keep the errors minimal. SCI probably does have the largest database of measurements on leopard skulls but the fact they aren’t all reliable makes it pretty useless. You have to look at each record independently and try to corroborate it with other info. Sort of defeats the purpose of the record book. I don't think the SCI records are wide spanning or representative of all of Africa. Keep in mind SCI has only been around since the mid 1970s and the vast majority of trophy hunting of leopards in the last 3 decades or so has been done in southern Africa and Tanzania – and as a result this is where you would expect most of the SCI records to come from. Leopards are still hunted in some other countries like Ethiopia and the Central African Republic but far fewer. This is mostly because the vast majority of trophy hunters now are American and you can only import a leopard trophy into the US from the following countries: Zimbabwe, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique, and Tanzania. The few leopards which are hunted in places like Ethiopia and CAR are mostly taken by European hunters who tend to be less interested in recording their trophies in record books. "Leopard is a CITES I animal and in the case of US hunters, USF&W will not issue an import permit for any leopard hunted in northern or central African countries where they have declared them to be 'Endangered'. This includes leopards legally hunted in Central African Republic (CAR), Uganda and Ethiopia. The leopard populations of southern Africa - in Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe are considered 'Threatened' by USF&W but CITES import permits should be issued for a leopard trophy." https://www.shakariconnection.com/leopard-hunting.html Kenya was considered the ultimate destination for leopard hunting in the 1960s and early 70s because of a well set up infrastructure and also a population of some huge mountain forest leopards which dominated the Rowland Ward records. But it closed all trophy hunting in 1977. Modern trophy hunting (post 1950s) was never really established in most West or Central African countries due to a lack of adequate infrastructure and stability – in fact countries like the DR Congo actually banned trophy hunting long ago. You’d think this would help the wildlife populations but in most cases the lack of trophy hunting in these unstable countries results in more uncontrolled illegal poaching taking over. One exception might be Cameroon where there’s seems to be a bit of trophy hunting going on but mostly for animals like the bongo – I haven’t seen anything about leopard hunting there – and again American hunters wouldn’t be able to import from there anyway. Quote:Here you can see a few hunted with their weights, some on the SCI list some not, but some huge Leopards either way. It's probably best not to rely on that facebook page. But I would agree any leopard weighing around 90kg would be very exceptional in areas where most leopard hunting is still done today. 
@Pckts
Quote:The consensus there seems to be that any Leopard near 90kg should be considered a maximum weight You seem to focus too much on that number; 90kg/200 pounds when it comes to leopards. In reality, there is no such thing as a maximum weight becouse of various reasons, with leopards the major reason being the individualism; there are males in Asia weighing 60kg while there are males who literally look lion sized. So many guides have seen leopards which they found to look like a lioness. The 90kg maximum is also false since a male from Namibia weighed 96kg. Then there's the notorious Vin Diesel male leopard who was claimed to have weighed 97kg. Quote:SCI probably does have the largest database of measurements on leopard skulls but the fact they aren’t all reliable makes it pretty useless. You have to look at each record independently and try to corroborate it with other info. Sort of defeats the purpose of the record book.Your personal opinion is that they aren't reliable but according to their requirements they seem to be reliable. Judging scale of a cat is tricky especially when all who pose do their best to exaggerate size. Quote:I don't think the SCI records are wide spanning or representative of all of Africa.Africa is a gigantic place, of course there are plenty of areas which little is known about cat size but still Leopards from S, E. and C. Africa have all been hunted and recorded. Quote:You’d think this would help the wildlife populations but in most cases the lack of trophy hunting in these unstable countries results in more uncontrolled illegal poaching taking over.Until demand is halted, poaching will always be a problem. Not only must trophy hunting be curbed but all hunting. Examples of this are seen in India and especially the Pantanal. But hunting and poaching are minimal threats nowadays, deforestation is the main culprit and I see no end to that unfortunately. @ Quote:You seem to focus too much on that number; 90kg/200 pounds when it comes to leopards. In reality, there is no such thing as a maximum weightI have said to you numerous times that I'm sure there are Leopards 100kg+ Just like I'm sure their are Jaguars 160kg+ and Lions and Tigers 280kg+ Quote:while there are males who literally look lion sized. So many guides have seen leopards which they found to look like a lionessNo Leopard is close to Lion size from what I've seen, there are some that are close to very small Lion weights but Lions and Tigers are far taller and longer. I've seen Choti Tara who's an 85kg Tigress and she is much taller than any Leopard I've seen and longer in body, she is also much thicker and she's very small for a Tigress. Just look at the Anderson male, said to have lion sized pug marks and he was completely outsized by the Lioness. I'd imagine a 90kg Leopard is still going to be smaller than a 90kg Lioness in terms of frame. Quote:The 90kg maximum is also false since a male from Namibia weighed 96kg. Then there's the notorious Vin Diesel male leopard who was claimed to have weighed 97kgThere is no confirmation for Vin Diesel's weight so that claim is not useful. 90kg is a fairly consistent number, all Leopards caught haven't really exceeded that mark minus a handful throughout history and not by much. But ofcourse there will be some who will weigh more than that, the scientific and hunting community has captured very few wild cats compared to their population in the wild. But in regards to verified weights, 90kg is a fair maximum for Leopards at this time. (09-04-2019, 07:48 PM)Pckts Wrote:Quote:I don't think the SCI records are wide spanning or representative of all of Africa. It's a simple fact that far more leopards have been measured and recorded from Southern Africa and to a lesser extent East Africa compared to other regions (North, West, or Central Africa).  *This image is copyright of its original author Alleged 86kg from Akeel Omar "Zambia Kazumba Game Reserve"  *This image is copyright of its original author Leon Small My client shot it with me a few years ago in Zim. Leon Small If I remember correctly it was 82/84kg...(180/185lb)  *This image is copyright of its original author Alleged 87kg  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author Below is the story as told by the PH (who guided the hunter on this Leopard hunt) on a hunting forum: "The owner, Mr Engels, contacted me in April to inform me that he has a problem leopard catching his heifers and that he lost close to 50 the last 36 months. I was baiting this particular monster for 2 1/2 months, in this period he walked passed my bait 12 times. Anybody that has hunted problem cats in the past will know, that this is a sign that he was a clever cat and that he was probably caught in a leg trap or something previously. After trying every trick in the book, we decided to get hounds to take care of the problem and lots of frustration. We shot him @ 11h00 in a deep canyon, I knew he had a big track, but never thought they can get this big. I have hunted leopards the last 15 years of my career and this is by far the biggest one, body and skull wise that I have hunted successfully. Officially from SCI this cat will be the new # 8 on SCI in all of Africa and will be the new record taken out of Namibia. Like somebody mentioned earlier, I also do not care about record books etc. but this was a "monster" in every aspect of the specie. Namibia has big cats, I just think none of us Namibian Pro Hunters ever cared about entering it into the SCI Record Book. This will soon change, trust me! I am a Master Measurer and did measure it several times. The score ended up to be 18 4/16(dry), the body was not that long(7.2 feet), he weighed 185 pounds. Length and weight are irrelevant, because if he had a full stomach, he would have weighed over 200 pounds. Something very interesting I thought, was that his tail had a circumference at the base of 10 inches." https://www.kalahari-trophy-hunting.com/Kalahari_Hunting_News-kalahari-hunting-news-11.html
Storm the leopard (AKA N193), 53.7kg:
 *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author Measurements of two other males (N196 and N194):  *This image is copyright of its original author
Massive male leopard collared in the Gouritz area (From Cape Leopard Trust):
"Oom Pep (or GM1 to the scientists) was the first leopard to be photographed by the Cape Leopard Trust’s camera traps in the Gouritz region. He was initially photographed on the Tierkloof hiking trail at Gamkaberg Nature Reserve in late 2007, and made regular trips down the trail over the following few years. We decided to name him after a former CapeNature ranger who once saw a leopard in Tierkloof, and tells the story of the encounter with great excitement and verve to this day! Oom Pep holds the distinction of being the most photographed leopard in the Gouritz area, and has been photographed at six different camera stations. In the past year he appears to have been evicted from the Tierkloof area by another male (who continues to share hiking trails with visitors to the reserve). Nevertheless, Oom Pep has remained a regular visitor to our camera stations and has also been photographed being followed by a female in recent months. Not surprisingly, a leopard as wily as Oom Pep proved difficult to capture, but after several months we finally succeeded in capturing and collaring him on Groenefontein Nature Reserve. This is now the second leopard collared for Gareth’s PHD project. While we expected him to be a big, dominant male, he surpassed our expectations, weighing in excess of 50kg! Oom Pep is thus of a similar size to leopards in the northern bushveld areas of South Africa, which was totally unexpected in an area where the biggest leopards were thought to weigh around 40kg. It remains to be seen whether Oom Pep is simply an unusually large male, or whether all males in the Gouritz area grow to be considerably larger than their counterparts in the Cederberg Mountains. Either way, it’s safe to say that this titan of the Little Karoo has many more surprises in store for us!"  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author
A professional hunter by the name of Mageka Ntuli, 30 years of age, was killed by very large male Leopard
"CAPE MUIDEN - Few people survive a leopard attack and get a chance to tell their story. To the well-known Onderberg farmer, mr. Danie van Graan, it is pure grace that he escaped from the animal's claws last week, hours after the same leopard killed his adoptive son . Yesterday morning Van Graan, who for Mr. Mageka Ntuli, 30, had to bury, talking to Laevelder about exactly what happened last Monday in the mountains near Kaapmuiden. In the morning Ntuli went to the field to shoot an impala. It is thought that the leopard was hiding in a hole in the hill at which Ntuli climbed. He was attacked here. "I think he fired two shots with his hunting rifle and then fired it with the handgun. Ntuli was able to scare the animal, but he was seriously injured. A passerby heard him scream and saw the leopard lying in the grass nearby. The man counted Ntuli on his back and carried him to his (Ntuli) bakkie. The benefactor then rushed with him to the Kaapmuiden clinic and was taken by ambulance to Rob Ferreira Hospital. Meanwhile, Van Graan heard about the incident and returned to the scene with the benefactor. “I looked into the hole where the leopard was spotted and the next moment the beast jumped at me. The animal was only about 12 inches from the gun barrel when I pulled the trigger. "
The 85kg leopard was hit in the chest and landed on top of Van Graan. At that moment, he was just glad he survived. He was under the impression that Ntuli was badly injured, but not necessarily in danger. He was taken to hospital early on Tuesday where a further shock awaited him. Here he still found Ntuli in the casualty department where he was being convicted. The young man also stopped breathing and there were indications that he may have suffered head injuries. Van Graan immediately began to apply mouth-to-mouth breathing and then "began to jump around staff to help". By this time, Ntuli no longer recognized him at all and was transferred to the intensive care unit. He passed away Wednesday morning. An emotional Van Graan said yesterday. "" I lost a wonderful person. "He raised Ntuli from a young age. He was a professional hunter who ran the Emonyeni Lodge (which previously belonged to Van Graan) and hunted his safaris. "He was very good with people and very loved, especially among our overseas clients." The leopard's carcass was taken to Mpumalanga Park Board to conduct tests to determine if it did not have rabies. Apparently, it is not in the nature of these animals to attack humans." https://lowvelder.co.za/228359/luiperd-a...ebeur-het/ Picture of Mageka Ntuli, the victim mauled to death by the Leopard:  *This image is copyright of its original author The Leopard that killed him. The alleged weight is 85 kg:  *This image is copyright of its original author
 (09-04-2019, 11:29 AM)Luipaard Wrote: You seem to focus too much on that number; 90kg/200 pounds when it comes to leopards. In reality, there is no such thing as a maximum weight becouse of various reasons, with leopards the major reason being the individualism; there are males in Asia weighing 60kg while there are males who literally look lion sized. So many guides have seen leopards which they found to look like a lioness. In my opinion, based in the records of measurements and weights that I have gathered, an adult male leopard from the large subspecies/populations weighing between 50-70 kg is already a good sized one, between 70-80 kg is a big one and from 80-90 kg is an exceptional one. Records of leopards, actually weighed, over 90 kg are few and far within and quoting from memory I just remember 3 males over 90 kg: 1 from Iran (91 kg), 1 from Namibia (96 kg) and the giant from Iran (115 kg). The heaviest male report from India weighed 83 kg but included some stomach content according with Dr Athreya. Contrary to lions or tigers, I don't have the full database of weights from all the populations, so I am probably missing some information here, so this is just my opinion based in the weights that I have, which are not few. Certainly there are big leopards in the wild, but they are not lion sized at all. Even at even weights, lions and tigers are longer and taller, like @Pckts said. The largest cats are another league compared with leopards and jaguars (although the largest jaguars may compare to average sized lionesses/tigresses). |
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