Bwanamitch, would you tell us what criteria you used to come to your estimate?

Could that have been a West African (Burkina Faso, or Benin) lion?

http://www.safariconsultants.com/benin.htm (this shows a picture)
http://www.african-hunter.com/hunting_in_burkina_faso.htm

If so, it could be fairly mature!

Dan

quote:

Originally posted by Bwanamich:
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say he is over 7 years old maybe even over 8.

My lion hunting is limited to a sample of one, but I've seen quite a few in the wild. The one you posted just doesn't look mature to me. I've always thought that mature lions look like regal old men; some have a lot of hair, some don't, but they have that air of experience. The pictures you posted reflect a college sophmore who's just coming into his prime.

In some areas, lions will never get full mane coverage and none on their elbows and stomachs. The mane does get coarse and more "horizontal" in appearance. The lion posted still looks more "vertical" with it hanging softly.

If that lion is 7-8 years old, how old is this one? They share a number of similar traits.





(Just for you Will, more pics of the most viewed lion on the internet!)

Bwanamich

I've met Petri Viljoen and I'll be very interested in what he has to say.

Forrest

I certainly am not an expert but your lion looks like an old man to me. Given the option I would take him and be quite happy.

Mark

Forrest,
In my mind, your lion looks like a wild lion should. He has definetly lived the life of "King of Beasts". I'd say he is 8 years old.

The only thing that would really worry me about taking that lion is the callouses on his elbows, the same kind that my dog gets from laying on concrete all the time. The mane is reasonable, a little bit of black, although not much hair on the top of the head. Just remember that Colonel Patterson's famous lions had no mane at all. If you have just spent $40,000 - $50,000 on your lion hunt, and this is the best you have seen, I would think you would probably take it rather than go home empty handed, after all it is the size of the skull that counts in the SCI book. My PH on my last lion hunt was telling me about this lion with a huge head that clients kept turning down, because he had a very scruffy mane, but he would have probably scored very high in the record books. I have all ten copies of the Trophy Rooms of the World books, and about 70% of the lions in there have less manes than this one. The ones that have the black mane all the way down to the belly, I would guess half of those are retired zoo lions! Just my humble opinion.

FB

Your Lion looks at least 9-10 yrs old to me and definitely battle-scarred. Last week, I'd just visited my old hunting partner's dad and checked out some of his mounts. He has three Lions that had the full mane with hair all over. The most common characteristic with all three was that the ears were hard to distinguish because of the mane. All his hunting was done in the 60's and 70's.

I think Ray Atkinson is older.

quote:

Originally posted by Spring:
Compare the lion below to "the MGM lion."

Above Sonny-Boy.

Below Pappa (photographed 1988).

I just saw ForrestB and his lion as the advertisement for Hunter's Quest International!!

http://www.biggame.org/ProfessionalHunters/

Can we take this as an endorsement?

Dan

quote:

Originally posted by DanEP:

Can we take this as an endorsement?

I've booked with Wendell and think very highly of him and the operation he runs. On this particular hunt, I booked directly with the PH and hunted the areas HQ was booking into. I would have been better off having Wendell's help in choosing safari dates as he had a much better handle on the rain situation that I had. Next time I'll know better.