Your wildlife experience in Tanzania, Africa

[Pckts]

@sanjay 


"1. What do you think about the size of them when compared to photos that we have seen here and other places (and keep fighting for these trivial things :) ) ? "

I think you are able to get a decent idea of size from photos but definitely not the whole story. Some photos will obviously flatter an animal more than others but when comparing my elephant photos I think you can tell the crater elephants are larger than the serengeti elephants I saw, but remember that is from the same camera taken by the same person. But trying to compare one cat to another without seeing it in person is extremely difficult, like most of us already know, there are many factors that come into play when comparing cats or animal that is. But there are some cats/animals that are just freaks... I think you look at a cat like Jai or Waghdoh or Some Kaziranga males for tigers or Ceasar or Scar Nose or Some Crater males and you can just tell they are large cats. Do you know which is larger than the other, of course not, you just know they are large.

"2. What do you think about photographers statement regarding size of animals ? Do you think they give correct information? Or it is exaggerated ?"

In my opinion this is the more reliable option, but remember that even this option still offers contradictory information. But I know from experience that if you see lions you can usually tell which MAY be larger or smaller but even this comes with contingencies, Like @Shardul said, the first time he saw T24 from a distance he didn't seem that large but once he saw him up close he knew he was a large Tiger. So if you see a lion and he's laying down or hidden behind bushes or far off he will obviously not look as large as a lion who is standing up right in front of you with no interrupted line of sight.
One of the male's I saw standing right in front of me was large and I estimated him to be 190kg, but the oasis male looked to be larger than the standing male but I never got to see him stand so I don't know for sure. That is where you have issues, unless you see each animal from the same distance, in the same position and angle you're always going to have an error. But I still think that asking photographers (experienced ones) or the Guides, which are even better than photographers (when discussing specific locations) is your best option when determining size.

But if you're trying to determine from a picture which is larger, Lion or Tiger, that is impossible. They are very different in the way they carry their weight, move and camouflage. I have spoke to a few well known photographers in my day, I have received contradictory information from them on some points and the same info on others. I suggest to anyone that tries to compare image to image of different species to just stop, you will never know until you see them in person. It's like trying to compare a rhino to a hippo, both are huge, some are bigger than the other and when they are close, you can make arguments for either one. But there is no way you can say one is larger or smaller unless its obvious.



But all of that being said, when you see a wild animal, a big herbivore or carnivore, it isn't like anything you see in captivity. Their muscle mass, battle wounds and attitude ooze confidence and caution. I've never seen a leopard in captivity that comes even close to the male I saw in the tree, I've never seen a lion in captivity that comes close to the males I saw in the wild and the list goes on. Some captive cats may be larger than wild counterparts, The mirage secret garden male lion is said to be 250kg but when I saw videos of him he looks nothing like a wild male and I don't care what he weighs, he would not be close to a wild male in attitude, muscle mass and battle experience. He may be larger than some but it's just different.

Remember, Iron sharpens Iron, wild animals live by different laws, their captive cousins are great to study up close but they are not wild animals, they are captive animals. I'm not saying they're not extremely dangerous, but their "wildness" is lost in their captive prisons.

I hope this helps...

Also, I don't want it to seem as though I'm taking away the peoples hard work who have studied captive cats, like @peter or @Amnon242
I certainly know for a fact that Peter is one of the most knowledgeable people about big cat morphology and wild cats to go along with his immense knowledge of captive cats and measurements. I'm just saying that captive and wild belong in different classes and using one to make a rule for the other is not the way to go. Better to distinguish them, which most of us already do. Reply