Tsavo Man-Eaters
The lion pair was said to have killed dozens of people, with some early estimates reaching over a hundred deaths.
They were eventually killed by Lieutenant-Colonel John Henry Patterson, who wrote his account of his hunting experience in a semi-biography The Man-eaters of Tsavo.
[1]: 18, 26 The project was led by Lieutenant-Colonel John Henry Patterson, who arrived just days before the disappearances and killings began.
During the next nine months of construction, two maneless male Tsavo lions stalked the campsite, dragging workers from their tents at night, devouring them.
He shot it through the shoulder, penetrating its heart with a more powerful rifle, and found it lying dead the next morning not far from his platform.
[2][3] At the end of the crisis, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Lord Salisbury, addressed the House of Lords on the subject of the Tsavo man-eaters: "The whole of the works were put to a stop because a pair of man-eating lions appeared in the locality and conceived a most unfortunate taste for our workmen.
Of course it is difficult to work a railway under these conditions and until we found an enthusiastic sportsman to get rid of these lions our enterprise was seriously hindered.
"[1]: 104 After 25 years as Patterson's floor rugs, the lions' skins were sold to the Field Museum of Natural History in 1924 for $5,000.
[9] DNA from compacted hair found in the tooth cavities of the Tsavo man-eaters in 2024 reveals that in addition to humans, the lions fed on zebras, oryx, waterbuck, wildebeest, and at least two individuals of Masai giraffe.
[10] The scientific analysis does not differentiate between the entire human corpses consumed and the parts of individual prey since the attacks often raise alarms, forcing the lions to slink back into the surrounding area.
[11] Other researchers have also shown that estimates of animal diets derived from isotopic models often deviate considerably from the correct values.
Their discussions include the following: An alternative argument indicates that the first lion had a severely damaged tooth that would have compromised its ability to kill natural prey.
Eating humans was probably an alternative to hunting or scavenging due to dental disease and/or a limited number of prey.
