THE CURIOUS CASE OF THE MAN-EATING LIONS

 

In the hundred and twenty-five years since two male lions terrorized workers on the Kenya-Uganda Railway, as humans have encroached wild habitats at the accelerating pace of technology and habitat demands, more carnivores have had to resort to becoming man-eaters. And yet, the tale of the two maneless big cats that together were responsible for as many as 135 railway workers continues to haunt us in ways that few true tales of terror seldom do.

Strangely, The Man-eaters of Tsavo, the account of the case written by Col. John Henry Patterson, the engineer sent to supervise the construction, nearly a decade after the incident offers a worthy summarization of the reign of terror but little insight into the strange behavior of the beasts. Patterson was, after all, a military and construction man first and his interest in zoology motivated by a passion for big game hunting.

Indeed, only the first half of the book covers the lion attacks, the rest is a medley of memories of the construction of the railway bridge and safari trips in the veldt of varying interest, though thrown in the middle of the book is the discovery of the lions’ lair and toward the end a tale of another man-eating lion further down the line.

In fairness to Patterson he arrived in Africa to ensure that England completed a railway through East Africa before the Germans. He was not there to study wildlife and the lions were an unforeseen inconvenience, stalling the work for some months as many of the workers (mostly Indians) left the site for fear of their lives.

There is some dispute, even, as to the number of casualties. Patterson estimated the number at 135, admitting it was hard to gage since the death of many of the Africans went unrecorded. However, modern research suggests the number was much lower, not even reaching 100. Indeed, it is modern research that has given this case its enduring fascination. As can be inferred from Patterson’s writing, the lions seemed to understand human behavior well, seemingly able to dodge even a skilled hunter like Patterson, predicting his moves and traps.

Perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that predators learn the behavior of humans when humans become their prey, much like they understand the structure of herds and movements of their other, more common, prey such as wildebeest.

Why did the lions turn from their natural prey? In 1898, the year the attacks began, an outbreak of rinderpest killed off a large number of lion’s preferred prey (wildebeest, buffalo, etc.) and humans, which were now frequenting their territory as construction ensued, became a viable alternative. Historians likely believe when their natural prey began dying out the lions began scavenging. Among what they scavenged was human remains, most of which was found along the Tsavo River which Arabic slave caravans normally crossed enroute to Zanzibar.

In addition, studies of the skulls (which are kept at Chicago’s Field Museum) indicated that one of the lions was suffering from gum diseases. Likely, the cause for the attacks by the infamous man-eaters of Tsavo was a case, as is the case with most man-eaters, of circumstance meeting opportunity. From here, nightmares become reality.