The reason the Kenyan lion couple eats dozens of people

Having problems with the teeth, the two "Ghosts" and "Darkness" lions were forced to choose the horrifying prey and prey in Tsavo, Kenya.

119 years ago, two big, mane-free lions named "Ghosts" and "Darkness" hunted railway workers in the Tsavo area, Kenya. During 9 months of 1898, they killed and ate around 35-135 people. The reason these lions specialize in hunting human flesh is still a controversial topic, according to Live Science.

Also known as lion Tsavo , a couple of monsters ruled the night until they were shot dead by railroad engineer John Henry Patterson in December 1898. In the past, the researchers hypothesized that two lions were forced to eat people because they were too hungry. However, research published April 19 in Scientific Reports shows the real motivation for Tsavo to kill and eat people.

The team analyzed the bones of two animals at the Field Museum in Chicago and concluded that their teeth were broken, making it hard for them to hunt large herbivores, forced to target humans for survival.

Engineer John Henry Patterson from a lion Tsavo was shot and killed by him.(Photo: Field Museum).

For most lions, people do not have to choose their top predators. Big cats often eat large herbivores like zebras, wildebeest and antelope. Instead of seeing people as potential food, they often avoid people completely, according to Bruce Patterson, Field Museum mammal manager and co-author.

To discover the mystery of pairs of traces left on their teeth to understand the animal's eating habits, especially in the last weeks before dying. Tsavo's lion teeth have no signs of abrasion and tear the bait associated with chewing large and heavy bones.

The previous hypothesis suggests that lions develop a preference for human flesh when eating scavengers, possibly because their normal prey dies massively after drought or disease. But if Tsavo lion hunted people because he was too hungry, they would surely chew on his human bones to make full use of nutrition, Patterson said. The abrasion marks on the lion's teeth indicate that they leave behind the bones, so the Tsavo lion may not be tempted by the lack of bait.

The more plausible explanation is that Ghosts and Darkness begin to eat people because their weak teeth prevent them from catching larger and stronger animals.

Finding a report before the American Mammal Association in 2000 noted that one of the two Tsavo lions was missing three mandibles, a broken fang and a large abscess in the surrounding tissue. root. The other lion was also hurt in the mouth, with a cracked upper jaw.

In particular, for the first lion, the pressure on the abscess will cause very uncomfortable pain, prompting the animal to ignore the big healthy goal and hunt smaller humans. Chemical analysis published in 2009 in the Journal of Proceedings of the Academy of Sciences shows that this lion eats more human flesh than its fellow. Two weeks after the first lion was shot dead, the other was defeated, ending the terror at Tsavo.