Comparative growth of wild male and female lions (Panthera leo)

Abstract

Lion growth was studied by fitting sex specific Von Bertalanffy curves and linear regressions to data on body mass, heart girth, shoulder height and vertebral column length. Measurements were recorded for 344 lions (Panthera leo) (158 ♂♂ and 186 ♀♀), from Kruger National Park, South Africa. Growth in mass for males and females was linear up to about 36 months of age 0 = 0–98 and 0–99 respectively). The other age‐specific measurements were clearly curvilinear. Mean weights for adult lions (excluding stomach contents) were 187–5 kg (♂♂) and 124–2 kg (♀♀) respectively. Lions tended to continue growing up to about seven years in males and nine to 10 years in females after which they usually started to lose condition. Body mass and heart girth measurements of Kruger Park lions were compared with samples from three other populations. These showed that lions from East Africa were smaller than those from more southern populations in Rhodesia, Kalahari and Kruger Park.

Three-dimensional cranial ontogeny in pantherines (Panthera leo,P. onca,P. pardus,P. tigris; Carnivora:, Felidae)

“…The difference in size between P. pardus and the remaining Pantherines start to increase at about 50 days (Fig. 9), before weaning in the Pantherines (Husain, 1966;Stehlik, 1971;Smuts et al, 1980;Shukla et al, 2003). Even when size begins to differentiate early in the lineage (Fig.…”

“…Growth of body size in Pantherines taken from literature: Veselovsky, 1967;Stehlik, 1971;Smuts et al, 1980;Shukla et al, 2003. Plot age in days vs. weight in grams.…”

“…The patterns of cranial ontogeny have been investigated in Pantherines using a descriptive approach that focused on general information about breeding in P. tigris (Sankhala, 1967), growth of body mass (in Pantherines: Carvalho, 1968;P. leo: Weilenmann, 1963;Smuts, Robinson & Whyte, 1980; P. tigris: Weilenmann, 1963;Husain, 1966;Veselovsky, 1967;P. onca: Stehlik, 1971;Hunt, 1967;P.…”

Leadership in elephants: the adaptive value of age

“…These large-bodied species often react to lion attacks with cooperative and aggressive defence mechanisms, presenting formidable opponents given their combined strength and dangerous weaponry [25,27]. In such situations, male lions, being on average 50 per cent larger in body mass and considerably more powerful than females [28], are at a distinct advantage. It is notable that the mean group size for successful male lion hunts on elephants is dramatically smaller than that for successful female hunts (1.8 versus 7 in one key study [23]), a finding also reflected in data on lion hunts of buffalo [25].…”

Aging traits and sustainable trophy hunting of African lions

“…Previous studies have identified several candidate traits (Ferreira and Funston, 2010a). Males' manes grow with age, however length can be influenced by injury, testosterone, and nutrition (Smuts, 1980;West and Packer, 2002). Mane colour typically darkens with age but can vary with ambient temperature (West and Packer, 2002;West et al, 2006).…”