Snapshot Serengeti Talk

Size comparison

  • areinders by areinders moderator

    I have a suggestion for future seasons of Snapshot Serengeti: It would be helpful to have a chart/drawing of size comparisons of animals. It seems to be a common issue that many of us have no real good idea as to how big certain species are in relation to others. So if there were a chart that show a Thomson's gazelle next to a Grant's gazelle next to an impala etc. that might be helpful. The "build" characteristic is useful but a bit subjective without context, this could be given by adding relative size information (ideally of all species together in one image).

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  • mistyfriday by mistyfriday

    I have looked for other sites to get that exact info. The other thing I thought might be useful is for each animal's representation pics. If there were a pic of the head, rump view, side view and one more. A pic of a baby or youth. Some animal's looks change quite a bit. Some start with horns looking one way and then change as they mature. Some animals didn't have a pic of their tails. The descriptive is good but nothing like seeing a pic of their tails to help with that ID.

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  • davidbygott by davidbygott moderator

    For what it's worth, I've posted a drawing I did years ago, showing size comparisons of the Serengeti animals. They are all drawn to the same scale, based on published dimensions, though these may not always correspond to how they look in the field. You can find it here:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidbygott/9349330114/

    While you are there, I also have two sets of photos of African mammals which may be of interest:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidbygott/sets/72157629111331428/

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidbygott/sets/72157629111250756/

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  • areinders by areinders moderator

    Excellent, David, thank you for posting the links! The drawing is exactly what I was talking about, very helpful. And the photos are fantastic, I will have to look at them more closely. I agree with mistyfriday that it would be helpful to have a few more images showing distinctive details of the various animals, such as tails.

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  • chipo by chipo

    Thank you David, it is going tpo be very helpful.

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  • wildebeesty by wildebeesty

    thanks David, great help

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  • AowlanCrystal by AowlanCrystal moderator

    Great photos and drawings. some great photos, love the leopards, servals and rodents, some nice deer likes too, some unusual colour mutations in Zebra and Giraffe, great rhino chasing lions photo, also loved the photos of the Young Common Duiker (Sylicapra grimmia) with its black stripe running up the nose and forehead ending in a punky bit between the ears, although I was a bit shocked at the bird egg blue shade of testicles sported by the male Vervet monkey (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) I can see why its called the red,white and blue display!!.
    I wonder if like in ancient Roman, where they called giraffe a "Camelopardalis" "Camel marked like a leopard" if the Striped Hyena has any similar tale about it being a dog striped like a zebra or even being half zebra and half something else, often stories were made up to explain why different animals had similar patterns or why/how they got a long nose, long neck etc..
    some great pics and photos thanks for sharing.

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  • mistyfriday by mistyfriday

    David, thanks so much for the links, they are great. This is all your photography I take it. I enjoyed the pics. and it certainly shows us some of the varieties of looks of these animals. We are so used to the animals in our own environment. Or maybe I should say that is what I am used to. I never realized there were so many patterns in giraffes and that the zebras had different patterns. I could get lost in your pics and kill a lot of time. And I just love catching the animals just being animals and doing their thing. Thanks so much for sharing.

    Didn't realize the size difference between tommies and grants.

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  • WileESongDog by WileESongDog

    Thanks for those posts, David. I am now stalking your Flickr, I hope that's not too weird. There is a gorgeous picture of a Caracal that I really love and wish I could hang on my wall to look at all the time. Lots of other great photos, too.

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  • iamfern by iamfern in response to davidbygott's comment.

    Love the serengetianimals drawn to scale in relation to the camera at 1 meter. Printed it out and use it! Thanks much.

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  • DZM by DZM admin

    Wow, an old post still being useful! 😃

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