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

peter Offline
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(09-12-2019, 10:54 PM)Luipaard Wrote: @peter Interestingly, the largest of all the skulls you've measured is one from Central Africa. That's not a coincidence as you have told me that these particular leopards in general have a larger and more robust skull. But when I look at the measurements, I suspect it to have been a rather smallish or young male when looking at the following measurements:


*This image is copyright of its original author

As you can see, the average size for 7 adult males in this case is 261 x 160 mm and for young adult males 237 x 140 mm. The skull you have measured (243,98 x 149,51 mm) overlaps with young and full grown males, indicating it must have been a rather small one or not full grown yet. And except for the Central African skull and the Persian one, no other skull manages to rival the smallest of the adults in the list above, let alone the average.

The sample is small of course but it's interesting to see nonetheless. And of course like you said; individual variation, especially in adult males, is well developed.

I recently talked to a vet interested in skulls. He told me about 2 leopard skulls well exceeding 10 inches in greatest total length. I'll post about both skulls when I have the details (measurements and photographs).
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Luipaard Offline
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(09-25-2019, 08:53 AM)peter Wrote:
(09-12-2019, 10:54 PM)Luipaard Wrote: @peter Interestingly, the largest of all the skulls you've measured is one from Central Africa. That's not a coincidence as you have told me that these particular leopards in general have a larger and more robust skull. But when I look at the measurements, I suspect it to have been a rather smallish or young male when looking at the following measurements:


*This image is copyright of its original author

As you can see, the average size for 7 adult males in this case is 261 x 160 mm and for young adult males 237 x 140 mm. The skull you have measured (243,98 x 149,51 mm) overlaps with young and full grown males, indicating it must have been a rather small one or not full grown yet. And except for the Central African skull and the Persian one, no other skull manages to rival the smallest of the adults in the list above, let alone the average.

The sample is small of course but it's interesting to see nonetheless. And of course like you said; individual variation, especially in adult males, is well developed.

I recently talked to a vet interested in skulls. He told me about 2 leopard skulls well exceeding 10 inches in greatest total length. I'll post about both skulls when I have the details (measurements and photographs).

Looking forward to seeing your post. I'm especially interested in the origin of those two skulls.
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BorneanTiger Offline
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( This post was last modified: 02-01-2020, 03:06 PM by BorneanTiger )

The complicated relationship between the leopard and snow leopard

On one hand, based on phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequence sampled across the living Felidæ, the snow leopard forms a sister group with the tiger. The time of the genetic divergence of this group is estimated at 4.62 to 1.82 million years. The snow leopard and the tiger probably diverged between 3.7 and 2.7 million years ago. Panthera originates most likely in northern Central Asia. Panthera blytheæ, excavated in western Tibet's Ngari Prefecture, is the oldest known species in Panthera, and exhibits skull characteristics similar to the snow leopard: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/311/5757/73https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266755142https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar...via%3Dihubhttps://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/1....2013.2686

2 cladograms (by Sainsf) proposed for the genus Panthera. The upper cladogram is based on a 2006 phylogenetic study by Warren E. Johnson (of the National Cancer Institute) and colleagues, and a 2009 study by Lars Werdelin and colleagues. The lower cladogram is based on a 2010 study by Brian W. Davis (of the Texas A&M University) and colleagues and a 2011 study by Ji H. Mazák (of the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum) and colleagues.

*This image is copyright of its original author


One the other hand, 2016 study revealed that the mitochondrial genomes of snow leopards, leopards and lions are more similar to each other than their nuclear genomes, indicating that the ancestors of snow leopards hybridised with those of leopards and lions at some point in their evolution: https://genome.cshlp.org/content/26/1/1
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United States Styx38 Offline
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( This post was last modified: 11-10-2019, 02:38 PM by Styx38 )

(09-26-2019, 02:35 AM)Luipaard Wrote:
(09-25-2019, 08:53 AM)peter Wrote:
(09-12-2019, 10:54 PM)Luipaard Wrote: @peter Interestingly, the largest of all the skulls you've measured is one from Central Africa. That's not a coincidence as you have told me that these particular leopards in general have a larger and more robust skull. But when I look at the measurements, I suspect it to have been a rather smallish or young male when looking at the following measurements:


*This image is copyright of its original author

As you can see, the average size for 7 adult males in this case is 261 x 160 mm and for young adult males 237 x 140 mm. The skull you have measured (243,98 x 149,51 mm) overlaps with young and full grown males, indicating it must have been a rather small one or not full grown yet. And except for the Central African skull and the Persian one, no other skull manages to rival the smallest of the adults in the list above, let alone the average.

The sample is small of course but it's interesting to see nonetheless. And of course like you said; individual variation, especially in adult males, is well developed.

I recently talked to a vet interested in skulls. He told me about 2 leopard skulls well exceeding 10 inches in greatest total length. I'll post about both skulls when I have the details (measurements and photographs).

Looking forward to seeing your post. I'm especially interested in the origin of those two skulls.


So based on Weight and/or skull measurements for Leoaprds, this would be Leopards from largest to smallest subspecies ?


1. Persian Leopard

2. African Forest Leopard  (Unsure about Sri Lankan Leopard)

3. South African Leopard

4. Tie between Indian and other African Leopards

5. Indochinese Leopard

6. Amur Leopard (unsure about Javan Leopard)

7. Weird specimens, such as the Somalian and Cape   Leopards

8. Arabian Leopard


^Let me know if I made a mistake.
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BorneanTiger Offline
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(11-10-2019, 02:33 PM)Styx38 Wrote:
(09-26-2019, 02:35 AM)Luipaard Wrote:
(09-25-2019, 08:53 AM)peter Wrote:
(09-12-2019, 10:54 PM)Luipaard Wrote: @peter Interestingly, the largest of all the skulls you've measured is one from Central Africa. That's not a coincidence as you have told me that these particular leopards in general have a larger and more robust skull. But when I look at the measurements, I suspect it to have been a rather smallish or young male when looking at the following measurements:


*This image is copyright of its original author

As you can see, the average size for 7 adult males in this case is 261 x 160 mm and for young adult males 237 x 140 mm. The skull you have measured (243,98 x 149,51 mm) overlaps with young and full grown males, indicating it must have been a rather small one or not full grown yet. And except for the Central African skull and the Persian one, no other skull manages to rival the smallest of the adults in the list above, let alone the average.

The sample is small of course but it's interesting to see nonetheless. And of course like you said; individual variation, especially in adult males, is well developed.

I recently talked to a vet interested in skulls. He told me about 2 leopard skulls well exceeding 10 inches in greatest total length. I'll post about both skulls when I have the details (measurements and photographs).

Looking forward to seeing your post. I'm especially interested in the origin of those two skulls.


So based on Weight and/or skull measurements for Leoaprds, this would be Leopards from largest to smallest subspecies ?


1. Persian Leopard

2. African Forest Leopard  (Unsure about Sri Lankan Leopard)

3. South African Leopard

4. Tie between Indian and other African Leopards

5. Indochinese Leopard

6. Amur Leopard (unsure about Javan Leopard)

7. Weird specimens, such as the Somalian and Cape   Leopards

8. Arabian Leopard


^Let me know if I made a mistake.

The Arabian leopard, and possibly the Zanzibar leopard, do appear to be the smallest leopards, but I would not say that the Persian or Caucasian leopard is definitely the biggest, to be, it's more like a contest between Persian, Indian, Sri Lankan and African leopards (especially in the rainforests of Africa). For instance, the largest Sri Lankan leopard was claimed to weigh 250 lbs (113.4 kg): http://www.sundaytimes.lk/970921/plus15.html
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United States Styx38 Offline
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(11-10-2019, 11:25 PM)BorneanTiger Wrote:
(11-10-2019, 02:33 PM)Styx38 Wrote:
(09-26-2019, 02:35 AM)Luipaard Wrote:
(09-25-2019, 08:53 AM)peter Wrote:
(09-12-2019, 10:54 PM)Luipaard Wrote: @peter Interestingly, the largest of all the skulls you've measured is one from Central Africa. That's not a coincidence as you have told me that these particular leopards in general have a larger and more robust skull. But when I look at the measurements, I suspect it to have been a rather smallish or young male when looking at the following measurements:


*This image is copyright of its original author

As you can see, the average size for 7 adult males in this case is 261 x 160 mm and for young adult males 237 x 140 mm. The skull you have measured (243,98 x 149,51 mm) overlaps with young and full grown males, indicating it must have been a rather small one or not full grown yet. And except for the Central African skull and the Persian one, no other skull manages to rival the smallest of the adults in the list above, let alone the average.

The sample is small of course but it's interesting to see nonetheless. And of course like you said; individual variation, especially in adult males, is well developed.

I recently talked to a vet interested in skulls. He told me about 2 leopard skulls well exceeding 10 inches in greatest total length. I'll post about both skulls when I have the details (measurements and photographs).

Looking forward to seeing your post. I'm especially interested in the origin of those two skulls.


So based on Weight and/or skull measurements for Leoaprds, this would be Leopards from largest to smallest subspecies ?


1. Persian Leopard

2. African Forest Leopard  (Unsure about Sri Lankan Leopard)

3. South African Leopard

4. Tie between Indian and other African Leopards

5. Indochinese Leopard

6. Amur Leopard (unsure about Javan Leopard)

7. Weird specimens, such as the Somalian and Cape   Leopards

8. Arabian Leopard


^Let me know if I made a mistake.

The Arabian leopard, and possibly the Zanzibar leopard, do appear to be the smallest leopards, but I would not say that the Persian or Caucasian leopard is definitely the biggest, to be, it's more like a contest between Persian, Indian, Sri Lankan and African leopards (especially in the rainforests of Africa). For instance, the largest Sri Lankan leopard was claimed to weigh 250 lbs (113.4 kg): http://www.sundaytimes.lk/970921/plus15.html

Actually, the Indian Leopard is a bit small.


Quote:In its eagerness to eliminate a man-eater leopard, the Himachal Pradesh Forest officials appear to have killed the country’s ‘largest’ wild cat. The measurement of the leopard, killed by the forest officials, was found to be 8.7 feet long, 34 inches height and 70.85 kg in weight.

https://www.dailypioneer.com/2016/state-...aspur.html


70 kg would be considered among the largest of the Indian Leopards, while 72 kg was considered average for mature Leopards in some South African National Park.
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Venezuela epaiva Offline
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One of the biggest Leopards we saw on a safari, this giant came out of the bushes around the Takek river in the Masai Mara
Credit to @wildlifebrothers

*This image is copyright of its original author
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BorneanTiger Offline
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This video from India is chilling, hilarious and viral at the same time: 



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United States Styx38 Offline
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(11-16-2019, 11:36 PM)BorneanTiger Wrote: This video from India is chilling, hilarious and viral at the same time: 






Here are some current day man eating Leopards.

 a female Leopard who killed 5 people was captured.


*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author



"Sources said that the female leopard, around two-and-a-half years old, got attracted to the bait and walked into the cage installed at the farm where it had killed a woman on Friday.


Foresters monitoring the cage discovered the leopard in the morning and sent it to Transit Treatment Centre (TTC) at Chandrapur immediately.

Gajendra Narwane, deputy director of TATR (buffer), said that the captured beast was examined for injuries at TTC and was declared fit. “However, there is no possibility of releasing the animal back into the wild,” he said.

Forester will now compare the camera trap photos taken at Arjuni and Ramdegi to confirm that the same animal was responsible for human kills at both the places.

It’s latest kill at Arjuni had sparked tension in the area with the villagers keeping forest officers away from the dead body demanding immediate capture of the problem animal.


The beast is suspected to have killed five people in the last five weeks. The leopard attacks were particularly concentrated at Arjuni village and Ramdegi forest, located 8km apart.



The victims



Nov four: Tulsi Kedar, a local of Arjuni village, is attacked when she was returning house after providing prayers at a temple



Dec four: Devrao Jeevtode, also from Arjuni village, is mauled while running in his farm




Dec 10: The animal pounces on Sandeep Titre, a grocery shopkeeper from Ramdegi, when he ventured into the forest to wait nature’s name




Dec 11: Rahul Bodhi, a Buddhist monk from the similar spaces, was killed when he was meditating under a tree




Dec 14: Nirmala Shrirame (48) is attacked by way of the animal round 12 noon when she was running in the farm together with other labourers"



https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/leopard-that-killed-3-in-4-days-captured/articleshow/67107144.cms




Here is a man-eater who killed 21 people.









Separate case of a man killed by a Leopard.







"A 23-year-old youth, identified as Shankar Naik, was killed by a leopard in Sushil Nagar in Sandur taluk"


https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/youth-killed-in-leopard-attack/article24389642.ece


Another man killed by Leopard










Farmer killed in Leopard attack









Attack that happened this year.


"A man was killed by a leopard in Pabau block of Pauri district of Uttarakhand, police said Friday.

The half-eaten body of the man was found near the bushes around 300 metres from the market area in Pabau late on Thursday night, Station House Officer Ajay Kumar said."

https://www.business-standard.com/articl...915_1.html
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BorneanTiger Offline
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( This post was last modified: 11-30-2019, 09:10 PM by BorneanTiger )

Among big cats, the leopard is the only one that I've seen be able to exist in a big urban area like India's financial capital, Mumbai, which happens to be one of the World's most populous cities as well: https://wildfact.com/forum/topic-indian-...5#pid95515
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United States Styx38 Offline
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( This post was last modified: 12-16-2019, 12:54 AM by Styx38 )

Its seems Leopards in the Congo killed lots of people.



*This image is copyright of its original author


George Grenfell and the Congo: a history and description of the Congo Independent State and Adjoining Districts of Congoland, Together with Some Account of the Native Peoples and Their Languages, the Fauna and Flora    Volume 2 By Sir Harry Hamilton Johnston, Lawson Forfeitt, Emil Torday

Don't know the accurate numbers, but it seems the Congo Leopards would be almost as dangerous as Indian Leopards.
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United States Styx38 Offline
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( This post was last modified: 12-23-2019, 11:23 AM by Styx38 Edit Reason: More info )

No mentions of the rare Somalian Leopard?


Anyway, Somalian Leopard kills man.




*This image is copyright of its original author



"A man has been killed and seven people have been injured in an attack by a Leopard"

http://www.allgalgaduud.net/2017/10/05/leopard-kills-1-injures-7-people-in-somalia/



The Somalian Leopard was considered as a man eater during the British Somaliland (now part of Northern Somalia) :


Quote: Wrote:In 1889 there was a leopard, said to be a panther, which had haunted the Mirso ledge of the Golis range for some years, and was supposed to have killed over a hundred people. It was in the habit of lying in wait at a corner of a very dark, rough jungle path, where huge rocks overlooked the track; and the Somalis used to show a boulder, some 6 feet high, a yard from the path, in the flat top of which was a depression shaped like a panther's body, from which the beast was said to spring upon travellers.


 account of H.G.C. Swayne in Great and Small Game of Africa by Henry Bryden 



Somalian Leopards are quite small.

Here are their approximate weights:

Females: 23-27 kg; Males: 34-40 kg

source: Big Cats by Tom Brakefield



Leopards in Somalia were bold and powerful enough to hunt men in villages despite being smaller than their other African counterparts.




*This image is copyright of its original author




List of Mammals from Somali-land Obtained by the Museum's East African Expedition by Daniel Giraud Elliot
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BorneanTiger Offline
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( This post was last modified: 12-23-2019, 06:27 PM by BorneanTiger )

(12-23-2019, 10:56 AM)Styx38 Wrote: No mentions of the rare Somalian Leopard?


Anyway, Somalian Leopard kills man.




*This image is copyright of its original author



"A man has been killed and seven people have been injured in an attack by a Leopard"

http://www.allgalgaduud.net/2017/10/05/leopard-kills-1-injures-7-people-in-somalia/



The Somalian Leopard was considered as a man eater during the British Somaliland (now part of Northern Somalia) :


Quote: Wrote:In 1889 there was a leopard, said to be a panther, which had haunted the Mirso ledge of the Golis range for some years, and was supposed to have killed over a hundred people. It was in the habit of lying in wait at a corner of a very dark, rough jungle path, where huge rocks overlooked the track; and the Somalis used to show a boulder, some 6 feet high, a yard from the path, in the flat top of which was a depression shaped like a panther's body, from which the beast was said to spring upon travellers.


 account of H.G.C. Swayne in Great and Small Game of Africa by Henry Bryden 



Somalian Leopards are quite small.

Here are their approximate weights:

Females: 23-27 kg; Males: 34-40 kg

source: Big Cats by Tom Brakefield



Leopards in Somalia were bold and powerful enough to hunt men in villages despite being smaller than their other African counterparts.




*This image is copyright of its original author




List of Mammals from Somali-land Obtained by the Museum's East African Expedition by Daniel Giraud Elliot

Alfred Edward Pease, in The Book of the Lion, went into detail about African panthers, including in Somaliland. He searched for one that had claimed "many victims among the natives near the Jerato Pass in the Golis Mountains," also saying that this panther had "haunted the Gen Libah for some years," that whereas Somalis used the name "Shabel" for the common leopard, they used the name "Orghobie" for the panther, and that he was stalked by a leopard in the Gadabursi Mountains: https://archive.org/stream/bookoflion191...ch/panther

*This image is copyright of its original author


The Jerato (Gellato Pass) in the Golis Mountains of northern Somalia, credit: The Field Museum Library

*This image is copyright of its original author
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United States Styx38 Offline
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( This post was last modified: 12-26-2019, 02:58 PM by Styx38 )

@BorneanTiger 

To be honest, I posted about the Somali Leopard because it killed a man. 

This info opposes Akeley killing the Leopard.
 
It was confirmed by a news writer or editor.

"BREAKING: Leopard shot dead in Wanlaweyn town after it attacked and killed a man injured 7 others, Thursday, in a rare incident: residents"
 


https://mobile.twitter.com/harunmaruf/st...8521390080


I wanted to post about this Leopard since it can kill an adult man despite the smaller size, and now it is rare animal that may be living in some poorly maintained environments.

It seems to have a near-cryptid status.
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United States Styx38 Offline
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( This post was last modified: 12-30-2019, 09:38 AM by Styx38 Edit Reason: More info )

There seem to be some recent cases of Leopards killing humans, especially in India.


"Fatal encounter

November 27: Woman (45) killed in sugarcane field at Nawada village close to Nagina Dehat police station

December 17: Five-year-old Chetan of Prempuri village in Najibabad area killed and a child injured

December 19: Leopard mauls to death Chaman (23) at Alam Saray village

December 25: Shanu (16) falls prey to leopard attack at Asgarpur village

December 26: Shafiq killed by leopard



https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/meerut/farm-labourer-fifth-victim-of-leopard-attack/articleshow/72985690.cms






*This image is copyright of its original author






Teenager mauled to death by a leopard in J-K's Kathua
      
*This image is copyright of its original author


*This image is copyright of its original author

PTI, Jammu,

  • NOV 12 2019, 13:45PM IST
     
  • UPDATED: NOV 12 2019, 21:19PM IST


*This image is copyright of its original author


Representative Image. (Reuters Photo).

"An 18-year-old boy was mauled to death by a leopard in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said on Tuesday.
Paroshotam Kumar was attacked and killed by the wild animal while returning to his residence in Makwal village in Ramkote area late on Monday, a police official said.

He said the victim's mutilated body was recovered from the bushes and handed over to his family for last rites after completion of legal formalities.
The incident has caused panic among local residents who took to the streets on Tuesday morning along with the victim's body and blocked the main road to protest against the wildlife department.
Senior police and civil officers rushed to the area and were persuading the protesters to disperse, assuring necessary measures to prevent such an incident from occurring in the future, the official said.
The leopard remains untraced and is believed to have fled back into the forest, he said."


https://www.deccanherald.com/national/teenager-mauled-to-death-by-a-leopard-in-j-ks-kathua-775572.html



     

  • *This image is copyright of its original author

Person killed by leopard in broad daylight in Karsog's Pangana Mandi News
Publish Date: Sat, 14 Dec 2019 04:17 PM (IST)A sheep leopard was killed in a leopard attack at Pangana in Karsog subdivision of Man Killed By Leopard District Mandi. This incident is being reported from Panayadu village in Pangana. ...




"Mandi, jnn. Sheep keeper was killed in a leopard attack at Pangana in Karsog subdivision of District Mandi. This incident is being reported from Panayadu village in Pangana. The person went towards the forest carrying the cattle, during which suddenly the leopard attacked him. It is being told that the person was alone at the time of the attack and the leopard bled him badly, Ram Singh resident Panayadu died on the spot.





Hearing the sound of shouting, people nearby and another man who brought cattle with him, reached the spot and rescued him from the clutches of the leopard, but by then he had died. The police and forest department team reached the spot and started investigating the case. Statements have also been taken in the case of local people."




https://www.jagran.com/himachal-pradesh/...43749.html
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