WHY do some lions become maneaters? A popular theory has it that only sick or injured lions attack humans and our livestock because they are unable to snag fleet-footed prey such as zebras and gazelles. But it turns out that most man-eating lions are young males in good physical health.
In 1898, two lions famously terrorised railroad workers building a bridge over Kenya's Tsavo River, killing and eating nearly 30 people. The Tsavo maneaters are on display at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and have been the subject of several books, movies, and scientific studies.
Previously, zoologist Bruce Patterson at the Field Museum and dentist Ellis Neiburger presented evidence at a meeting of the American Society of Mammalogists that both Tsavo lions had broken teeth and jaws (
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