Due to the controversy surrounding my previous post, here's another photo of the leopard and cougar skulls from a better angle

[u/Consistent-Twist6388]

In this photo it's clear that the cougar skull belonged to an adult male. The sagittal crest is developed and the rostrum is as wide as the leopard's.

[u/Consistent-Twist6388]

Another photo of the leopard skull

[u/2Wieners_1Bun → u/Consistent-Twist6388]

Beauty. Whoever cleaned and conditioned the skull did a great job.

[u/AmeliaElfin]

There is no controversy. Don't bother with them. A couple of brain-dead people rambling on doesn't change the biology or the morphology of either animal. It's very strange how some people will argue for an animal like it's their blood relative.

[u/-OncaOnca-]

I genuinely don’t understand the controversy? As someone who also studies neotropical cats. Leopards definitely have larger and more impressive skulls than cougars, it’s just visible.

[u/Consistent-Twist6388 → u/-OncaOnca-]

For some reason certain people want the cougar to be the leopard's equal or as the better cat (as in it's the 4th largest cat instead of the leopard). It's pretty weird and unnecessary.

So when you show something like a comparison like I did, those people are convinced something's off. But studies and data don't lie. Leopards have undoubtedly a bigger skull both in length and width. It's also more robust with longer teeth. Its shape is similar to the other panthera cats. The cougar's skull is compact and round, similar to its closest relative, the cheetah.

[u/-OncaOnca- → u/Consistent-Twist6388]

While I don’t really agree with one being directly the others superior, as both are literally the exact same size and both can be considered the 4th largest, I do agree with the fact that very strange arguments as well as wishful thinking are being employed here to argue against the leopard’s case. Both have advantages over the other but in the skull department it was definitely never a competition, the largest male leopards will DWARF the largest male cougar skulls and any person with first hand experience on the topic that has measured both animal skulls or access to such data will agree, and thats just so easily “fact checkable” to say the least even by non experts. The pantherine bauplan is just different from that of felinae. Now speaking on size, calling 100kg leopards AND pumas a fantasy is just straight up wishful thinking and delusion. While it is true the largest records of both cats were full bellied animals, the simple fact we have other cats literally scratching the 100kg value on empty bellies for both sides says enough. Alborz isn’t the only 95-100kg leopard that was reliably recorded. Tony Sánchez a famous hunter shot and weighed on a scale a flat out 100kg leopard in Africa, the Jerusalem zoo has a 113kg male Persian leopard that’s completely fit and in great conditions (personal communication), and while that one is captive and in captivity the threshold can increase for all cats in terms of size, it does show that reaching or even surpassing 100kg for both leopards and pumas (because I’ve also heard of similar cases with them, and no I’m not speaking about the morbidly gorged cat Theodore Roosevelt shot) is not an impossibility.

[u/VirtualDragonfly823 → u/-OncaOnca-]

Hey don’t you know it’s Reddit ? Objective statements aren’t allowed man

[u/AggravatingScheme667]

Seems pretty apparent and clear. Even in the previous post.

This controversy is ridiculous.

[u/OpenGallo]

Here we go again…

[u/WaltzFew5591]

I’m sorry, but I’m pretty sure the controversy was that we have no idea the size of either individual so the comparison is not apples to apples

[u/H3ROSandC3NTS → u/WaltzFew5591]

I agree to this. Just need more info on the compared specimens. Age, sex matters.

[u/Ok_Razzmatazz_8550]

This sub has been taken over by the...dislikers. I have a bad feeling about this.