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'Man-eating' lions: Celebrating 100 years at the Field Museum
There are a pair of lions at the Field Museum that no longer roar. However, they still might scare you!
CHICAGO - Exactly 100 years ago, Chicago’s Field Museum received one of its most popular exhibits, the man-eating lions of Tsavo. And though they no longer roar, they still captivate hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.
What we know:
"Over a nine-month period, people were being removed from their tents at night by lions," said Roosevelt University Professor Emeritus Julian Kerbis Peterhans.
It's a polite way of saying people were being turned into dinner by the two big cats, who've been top attractions at the Field Museum since 1925.
"People have a fascination with man-eating animals," said Field Museum Chief Preparator Tom Gnoske. "And these two are probably the most famous man-eating cats known."
In fact, they're famous enough to have a movie made about them.
The backstory:
"The Ghost and the Darkness" tells the story of how the two lions terrorized workers building a railroad bridge in the Tsavo region of what is now Kenya in 1898, killing and eating at least 28 people and likely many more.
Workers were "originally disappearing. But in short order, it was realized they were being killed, dragged out screaming," Peterhans said. "You could hear the lions in these dense thorn thickets munching away."
With workers fleeing the worksite, head engineer Colonel J.H. Patterson, an experienced big-game hunter, tied dead cattle to a treestand and eventually shot and killed both lions.
Patterson then sent the hides and skulls to his home in England, where they were turned into rugs.
In 1925, Patterson sold the remains to the Field Museum, which taxidermied the hides back to life.
"Just to kind of Frankensteined them back together was something most taxidermists were not capable of doing," said Gnoske.
Even after a century, scientists at the Field continue to learn more about the lions. For instance, DNA analysis revealed they were brothers.
And from a broken canine tooth, they've extracted hair fragments showing their diet— including human hairs.
The painful tooth might explain in part the lions' hunger for humans.
"If they can't eat normal prey with this severely broken canine, might that be a reason to turn to people?" Peterhans said. "People are softer, easier, and less likely to escape your jaws."
What's next:
With DNA technology continuing to improve, scientists at the Field believe there are even more secrets inside the Tsavo lions that might be unlocked.
"They still have some secrets. I'm not sure they'll reveal all of their secrets," Gnoske said. "But I think we're on to at least a few more interesting things about their history."
Including whether a possible third man-eating lion mentioned in Patterson's diary has left any DNA pawprints with the two big guys.