Szekessy Vilmos (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 59. (Budapest 1967)

Szunyoghy, J. ; Nagy, E.: The scientific results of Hungarian zoological expeditions to Tanganyika 11. Data to the body measurements of East African big game on the basis of material collected during the third expedition

culties in securing exact data. Length and girth measurements were invariably taken on the unskinned animal: they are to be understood as such. The measurements taken are as follows: A = length of body; extending in antelopes and zebras from the upper lip—in hogs and predators from the tip of the nose, in elephants from the end of the trunk

—, along the median line of the body to the base of the tail. This latter was established by pulling up the tail perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis of the body: the required point is at the intersection of the two axes. This is one of the most difficult readings. To obtain a possible exact measurement, the freshly shot animal is to be extended —but not stretched out—as far as its anatomical structure permits it, while the tape is smoothed out along its body. If this requirement is not strictly adhered to, and the readings are taken on a dead body stiffened into an abnormal position, the data obtained cannot be but false. B = length of tail ; extending from the base of the tail to its tip. The hairs, occasionally forming a tuft, projecting beyond the tip of the tail are not to be measured. C = length of hind foot ; extending from the tip of the hoof, or in predators from the tip of the longest toe, to the tarsal joint (or hock) ; the claws are not to be included. D = length of ear ; extending from the lower edge of the meatus acusticus externus to the tip of the auricle ; where this latter cannot be established, to the furthermost point of the ear. Fig. 1. Body measurements of big game