The Man-Eating Lions of Tsavo: Why Were They Interested In Feeding on Humans?
The Man-Eating Lions of Tsavo: Why Were They Interested In Feeding on Humans?
Because they were hungry?
Because they hate people?
Because they were pissed about the whole Hakuna Matada thing?There are all sorts of theories out there but I reckon that the fact that there was very little natural prey in the area is the most likely cause. Lions are territorial. They cannot go just anywhere to hunt their food. Encroaching on another lion prides territorial will mean fighting and possible injuring and death. Game food was short, much having died as a result of a rinderpest outbreak and the others having run away to avoid the railroad workers and surrounding activity. Man was the easiest available prey and the lions were already used to scavenging on human flesh. Big subject. Hope that helps.
There is a lot of speculation on where the "man-eating lions of Tsavo" came from... and that might shed light on why they were eating people. If they were natural lions, born and bred in the wild, than there is a simple explanation for why they might eat people... because we're EASY prey and as it happens the railroad they were building out there was in the middle of nowhere. These lions very likely weren't used to that many people (or their weapons) and may have just seen us as new easy prey.
I tend to believe in a bit most dastardly hypothesis though. These "lions" were unusually large... too large in fact. They may have been lion tiger crosses. Such a cross would cause unmatched growth capacity. But where would one of these creatures come from with no tigers around? Good question. The railroad being built was not supported on all sides by everyone. There was a lot of people angry about it being built in the area... and it's not that much of a stretch to think these creatures might have been purposely bred by humans and set loose to do their damage. An animal such as this used to being fed by humans and with no real hunting abilities due to captivity would very quickly turn to humans instead of starving to death. Or they may have even been trained to eat humans. Whose to say, it was a long time ago.
But really... we'll probably never know. It's fun speculating though!The lions of Tsavo killed and ate 28 Indian men. And on a second thought, the Tsavo lions also fed on about 110 local African men. This happened on March 1898 to December 1898 when the British started building the Kenya Uganda railway. It was not... read more
By the way did you see "The Ghost and the Darkness" with Val Kilmer , lions are also the top of the food chain ,, they havent figured out that man can win in a duel of predators .One on one the lyon wins hands down.
