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PAIRED TEXTS texts that share a theme or topic IN THE WILDS OF AFRICA, TWO KILLER LIONS WERE TERRORIZING AN ARMY OF MEN. WHAT MADE THESE AS YOU READ, BEASTS CRAVE THINK ABOUT: How has the plight of lions HUMAN FLESH? changed over time? BY LAUREN TARSHIS 1616 SCHOLASTIC SCHOLASTIC SCOPE SCOPE • OCTOBER • NOVEMBER 11, 2010 2015 Nonfiction OF THE MAN-EATERS olonel J. H. Patterson was dazzled when he Soon, however, another sound was echoing through first arrived in the African city of Mombasa in the Tsavo forest: screams. Night after night, two male March of 1898. The city, in present-day Kenya, lions were stalking into the camp, dragging men away, was enchanting. It was “fresh and green” and eating them. Over the next nine Cand “bathed in brilliant sunshine,” Patterson wrote. months, these lions would kill some Patterson was a British engineer who had come to Africa 75 men. The lions behaved with to complete an important job: the construction of the such cunning that some of the 660-mile-long Uganda Railroad. workers could not believe they He led a small army of workers—some 4,000 men— were animals. Rather, they who cut a path through a punishing African desert and thought the lions were evil a snake-infested jungle. It was backbreaking work, and spirits, devils in lion form. there were constant food and water shortages. But by COLONEL PATTERSON the time they arrived in the Tsavo forest, it seemed that GRUESOME ATTACK the worst was behind them. They welcomed the cooling The first hint of trouble was the disappearance of two breezes and gulped down the clear river water. workers in the middle of the night. Rumors swirled that “The noise of hammers, sledges, drilling, and blasting two lions had stormed into a tent and dragged the men ATIF SAEED (LION); THE FIELD MUSEUM (COLONEL PATTERSON) echoed merrily through the district,” Patterson wrote in off into the darkness. his journal. Patterson was skeptical. Lions occasionally SCOPE.SCHOLASTIC.COM • NOVEMBER 2015 17 attacked humans, of course, One December night, but usually they preyed on the Patterson was perched on a crude vulnerable—a woman gathering shooting platform. In the darkness water, a lone hunter tramping he heard the snapping of through the forest. Patterson a twig and the rustle of found it hard to believe that lions Patterson and his a large animal pushing would barge into a bustling, team were building through the brush. a railroad bridge, crowded camp. Finding no lion shown at right as it “The man-eater,” prints or human remains, he looks today. Most of Patterson thought. concluded the men had probably the workers (above) It soon became clear came from India. been robbed and killed by other that the lion wasn’t just men in the camp. lurking in the bush. It was stalking Patterson. For hours, But a few nights later, the quiet was again shattered Patterson waited motionless as the lion circled below, by screams. A popular worker, an Indian man named growling, its eyes glistening in the darkness. Eventually, Ungan Singh, was gone. This time there was no doubt the lion hunkered directly beneath him. Patterson’s about what had happened. Three of Singh’s tentmates platform was so flimsy that all the lion had to do was had witnessed the grisly attack: A lion had thrust its charge at the poles holding it up and Patterson would head through the open tent door and grabbed Singh. He come toppling down. wrapped his arms around the lion’s head and shouted He gathered his courage and took hold of his rifle. “Choro!” (Hindi for “Let go!”), struggling wildly as the Steadying his shaking arms, he took aim and pulled lion heaved him out of the tent. the trigger. His shot exploded in the darkness, and was Patterson and another man followed a trail of followed by a roar and sounds of violent thrashing. He fresh blood and paw prints into a thicket. There, they could see the lion stagger into the bush. discovered what little remained of Singh’s body. “It was And then, silence. the most gruesome sight I have ever seen,” Patterson Patterson waited anxiously, convinced that the would say later. lion was still alive. As dawn broke, he followed a trail He vowed to hunt the lions down. Each night, he of blood. There before him was a crouched lion that stationed himself in the branches of a different tree, seemed ready to pounce—but in fact, the lion was dead. where he scanned the darkness for hours at a time. The Workers rushed over to Patterson and lifted him into lions seemed to be purposely avoiding him. They were the air. They paraded him around, shouting with joy. not tempted by the live goats or donkey carcasses he left Congratulations poured in from around the country. out as bait, preferring, it seemed, human flesh. The lions The celebration became even more jubilant nine days eluded Patterson, and continued feasting on workmen, later, when Patterson managed to kill the second lion. always attacking in different areas of the camp. The The terror of the man-eaters had finally ended. workmen became so terrified that they refused to work. Hundreds fled. All construction on the railroad came to MODERN ANSWERS a halt. For more than a century, the story of the man-eaters of Tsavo has captivated scientists. What made those two FEAR AND SLEEPLESSNESS lions behave so ferociously? Most experts at the time Weeks went by. Months. Patterson nearly went mad agreed that the beasts were rogues—that their behavior from fear and sleeplessness, but he did not give up. was not typical of lions. THE FIELD MUSEUM (ALL IMAGES) 18 SCHOLASTIC SCOPE • NOVEMBER 2015 In 1924, Patterson sold the lions’ skins to the Field these animals for food. Museum in Chicago for $5,000. Over the past 15 years, All this information came together like pieces in scientists there have been studying the episode with a puzzle. It has enabled scientists to understand the particular intensity. They learned that one of the lions terrifying events of 1898 more clearly. The lions of suffered from injuries to its teeth and jaws, which Tsavo, it is now believed, were not rogues. They were would have made hunting large animals more difficult. naturally aggressive animals suffering from a variety of After a trip to the Tsavo forest, the scientists also problems—injuries, drought, and a shortage of prey. learned that the lions there might be naturally more Perhaps the man-eaters weren’t so savage after all. aggressive than other African lions. They kill people Perhaps they hunted the railroad workers for a simple from surrounding villages every year. reason: They were hungry. Finally, by poring over historical records from Today, you can stand within a few feet of the man- 1898, the Field Museum scientists learned there was eaters; they are on display at the Field Museum. When a drought in the area at the time Patterson was there. you stare into their majestic faces, it’s easy to imagine More importantly, there was an outbreak of a disease the terror Patterson’s men must have felt on those dark called rinderpest, which killed cattle as well as large nights more than a century ago. But it’s also clear that wild animals like wildebeests and antelopes. This the events of 1898 were tragic not only for the lions’ would have been a crisis for the lions, which preyed on victims, but also for the lions. • Above: Patterson with one of the man-eaters he killed. Left: Today, the man-eaters of Tsavo are on display at the Field Museum in Chicago. Unlike most male lions, those native to Tsavo do not have manes. SCOPE.SCHOLASTIC.COM • NOVEMBER 2015 19 ARTICLE Meet the Lion Whisperer How one man is using his unusual bond with these fearsome creatures to save them from their most dangerous predator: us. BY SUSAN ORLEAN ne recent morning, Human-Shaped Lion tightrope walker without a net. Kevin Richardson It is clear, however, that Richardson, whose nickname is hugged a lion, then Richardson’s lions do not plan to “the lion whisperer,” discovered his turned to check his eat him. They snuggle up to him, love of big cats in an unexpected Ophone. The lion, a 400-pound as lazy as house cats. They nap in way. Just after college, he was male with paws the size of dinner a pile with him. They aren’t tame, working as a trainer in a gym. plates, leaned against Richardson’s but they seem to have accepted One of his clients, Rodney Fuhr, shoulder. A few feet away, a him, as if he were an odd, furless, had recently bought a tourist lioness yawned and stretched. human-shaped lion. Richardson, a attraction called Lion Park She swatted at Richardson’s thigh. bright-eyed, energetic father of two outside Johannesburg. He invited The male lion began gnawing on young children, is famous for his Richardson to come for a visit. Richardson’s head. unusual bond with wild cats. The The visit changed Richardson’s This was the scene unfolding most popular YouTube video of life forever. on a grassy plain in a northeast Richardson with his lions has been The lions mesmerized him— corner of South Africa, where viewed more than 25 million times. especially those at Cub World, Richardson runs a sanctuary for The first time I saw one of his where visitors could hold and pet lions and other animals born and videos, I was transfixed.

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