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The Tsavo Man-Eaters on display in the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois.

In March 1898, during the building of the Uganda Railway, engineer Lt. Col. John Henry Patterson led the construction of a railway bridge over the Tsavo River in Kenya. During the construction period, many railway workers were killed by two maneless male lions, which dragged men from their tents at night and devoured them. Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2048 × 1536 pixel, file size: 1. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2048 × 1536 pixel, file size: 1. ... Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago The Field Museum of Natural History, in Chicago, Illinois, USA, sits on Lake Shore Drive next to Lake Michigan, part of a scenic complex known as Museum Campus Chicago. ... Flag Seal Nickname: The Windy City Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location Location in Chicagoland and northern Illinois Coordinates , Government Country State Counties United States Illinois Cook, DuPage Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 606. ... The Uganda Railway is a railway system linking the interiors of Uganda and Kenya to the Indian Ocean at Mombasa in Kenya. ... Lieutenant-Colonel John Henry Patterson, D.S.O. (1867-1947) was an Anglo-Irish soldier, hunter, and author, best known for his book The Man-Eaters of Tsavo. ... The Tsavo River runs east from the western end of the Tsavo National Park of Kenya, near the border of Tanzania, until it joins with the Athi River, forming the Galana River near the center of the park. ... Look up mane in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see Lion (disambiguation). ...

The workers built bomas (thorn fences) around their camp to keep the maneaters out; but the maneaters were able to crawl through. Patterson set traps and tried several times to ambush the lions at night from a tree. After repeated unsuccessful endeavors, he finally shot the first lion on 9th December, 1898. Three weeks later, the second beast was found and killed. By that point, the maneaters had killed 135 workers according to Patterson's calculations. A boma in the forest. ...

There is speculation that the maneaters in the region had developed a taste for humans as a result of the slave trade. Another theory suggests that an outbreak of rinderpest disease had decimated the lions' usual prey, forcing them to find alternative food sources. Upon examining the skulls and jaws of the lions in the 1990s, some scientists concluded that the two were suffering from abscesses in their gums, and were in too much pain to hunt tougher animals. This theory was in fact discussed on the National Geographic Channel explaining how abscesses in the gums force the lions to take on easier prey, both "slower and more fragile". There has also been a confirmed link to the man eater attacks in Tanzania. Both lions were maneless and had abscesses in their gums. In 2000, a proposal was submitted to the Chicago Field Museum of Natural History that the attacks could be related to the lions scavenging the bodies of improperly buried railroad workers. Museum staff made a comprehensive review of Patterson's journals in which he recorded that many burial mounds, made by piling rocks over bodies, had been disturbed and the bodies eaten. Based on this evidence, it is most likely that the two bachelor males had acquired a taste for humans by scavenging the graves of deceased railroad workers, eventually modifying their feeding behavior to the snatching of sleeping workers from their tents. This explanation is now included in the Museum's display. Slave redirects here. ... Rinderpest (RP) is a inflectious viral disease of cattle, domestic buffalo, and some species of wildlife, it is commonly reffered to as cattle plague. ... For other uses, see Lion (disambiguation). ... Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago The Field Museum of Natural History, in Chicago, Illinois, USA, sits on Lake Shore Drive next to Lake Michigan, part of a scenic complex known as Museum Campus Chicago. ...

After two-and-a-half decades as Patterson's floor rugs, the lions' skins were sold to the Chicago Field Museum for a sum of $5,000 US. They are currently on display there. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 553 pixelsFull resolution (3614 × 2496 pixel, file size: 919 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Black and white picture of Tsavo Man-Eaters as shown in the Field Museum of Natural History. ... The Field Museum of Natural History (commonly abbreviated to FMNH or The Field Museum) is located in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It sits on Lake Shore Drive next to Lake Michigan, part of a scenic complex known as Museum Campus Chicago. ...

Patterson's accounts were published in his book The Man-Eaters of Tsavo and later dramatized in the movies Bwana Devil and The Ghost and the Darkness. ("The Ghost" and "The Darkness" were names given to the two man-eating lions). The Man-eaters of Tsavo is a book written by John Henry Patterson in 1907. ... Bwana Devil is a 1952 drama written, directed, and produced by Arch Oboler. ... The Ghost and the Darkness is a 1996 Oscar-winning film about the Tsavo maneaters, two lions who attacked the builders of the Uganda-Mombassa Railway in 1898, and the subsequent hunt to kill them. ...

Anomalies

The Tsavo maneaters were maneless male lions and were above average size for their kind. Patterson claimed that the lions were able to withstand several shots from his rifle. Tsavo Lions are generally maneless and also larger and more aggressive than lions from other regions.

See also

• History of Kenya

The history of Kenya as a land occupied by sentient humans extends for several million years, even though the history of Kenya as an independent state is relatively short. ...

Source

• The Man-Eaters of Tsavo at Wikisource

The original Wikisource logo. ...

External links

• Chicago Field Museum - Tsavo Lion Exhibit
• Kenya wants Tsavo man eaters back
• Journal: man-eaters of Tsavo - Natural History, Nov, 1998 (via FindArticles.com)
• Man-Eating Lions Not Aberrant, Experts Say - National Geographic News, Jan 4, 2004
• The Ghost and the Darkness at Internet Movie Database