19th Century Kenyan lions ate humans, DNA stuck between their teeth shows. The lions, dubbed the ‘Tsavo Man-Eaters’, are thought to have killed dozens of people, including those working along the Kenya-Uganda Railway in the late 19th Century

DNA extracted from between the teeth of 2 Kenyan lion specimens from the 1890s shows that the animals ate humans, as well as giraffes and wildebeests.

The pair of male lions were dubbed the “Tsavo Man-Eaters” and are thought to have eaten dozens of people, including workers on the Kenya-Uganda railway in the late 19th century. Some estimates suggest they killed more than a hundred people.

Both lions were killed in 1898 by Lieutenant-Colonel John Henry Patterson. He wrote a book about the hunt called The Man-eaters of Tsavo.

In 1924, the lions’ skins were sold to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, US where they are displayed alongside their skulls.

To put the legends to the test, a team of US and Kenyan scientists analysed hairs collected from between the teeth of the pair of big cats. The findings are published in the journal Current Biology.

[https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0960982224012405](https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0960982224012405)

“To put the legends to rest…”

Even though there are numerous first-hand accounts, including Lt. Col. John Patterson’s, eh?

Sounds like this was a solution looking for a problem.

This reminded me of the Volibear quote in league of legends

“I still taste their ancestors… stuck between my teeth.”