In nature, there are all kinds of animals, who live under the same sky as humans and breathe and share a common destiny. In the distant times, those beasts once stood at the top of the world and dominated the crowd, but with the progress of society, the invention of bows and arrows, swords and axes, muskets and cannons, the inferior beasts became docile and were kept captive by humans.
Animals in captivity
However, in some remote areas, where the glory of civilization is not shrouded, there are still bloody cases of animals eating people. Once the beast has tasted human flesh, it is like an addict taking drugs, and it is out of control. In Zavo, Africa, there are two male lions, constantly hunting humans and eating railroad workers strike. So, how did this cruel beast cannibalism incident happen?
Assassins in the night and workers on the run
On a dark night without light, the railroad workers who had worked hard all day fell into a sweet and black sleep, but the black shadows around them were gradually approaching them, and a sharp claw flashed a silvery white light, cutting the tent open, easily harvesting the lives of the workers from the camp of thousands of people. On the second day of work, the people found that there was one less worker, and thought that he could not bear to run away, but soon the people found the bitten worker in the nearby wilderness, and the people began to be afraid, thinking that this was the god here who was condemning them to stop the construction of the railway.
The sharp claws of a male lion
It turned out to be a team of railroad workers from British India who had traveled thousands of miles from their indian homeland to kenya to build a railway on the Tsavo River in Kenya, headed by Major John Henry Patterson, a valiant British soldier who had arrived a few days before the killing. After discovering the first dead man, the determined Major Patterson swept away the rumors of "divine punishment" and ordered the workers to patrol at night, vowing to find the hateful "killer".
Kenyan steppe
The dark moon and high night, it is the time to kill. Even under the tight defense, some people were sacrificed again, but the workers finally saw the true face of the "ghost of the night". They were two tall male lions, fierce in appearance and very peculiar in appearance, they did not have the iconic mane of the male lion, which once made the workers think that these were two female lionesses, but their ferocious and cunning methods let people know that these were two crazy and hungry piranha lions.
Man-eating lion
After discovering that there is no so-called "divine punishment", but that the piranha lion kills people, the workers are even more frightened and afraid, because they know that these male lions are more terrifying than the ghosts and gods. They have superb intelligence, are the hidden in the shadows, they always observe humans in the shadows, find out the laws of people's lives, know when workers go to work, when to rest, when to go to the toilet at night, and so on, and then calmly attack the lonely in the dark night. In their eyes, human beings are not the strength of all souls, but a good meal.
Man-eating lions nibble
Even though the workers were afraid, they followed Major Patterson to resist the attack of the male lion and establish various defensive measures in the face of survival. At first the Major arranged for the workers to light a bonfire at night, erect a fence around the camp and wrap it with thorns, and knock on the fence with various instruments in an attempt to drive away the lions, but the lions were not impressed. Facing the heavily armed camp, they used their innate ability to bounce, jump over the spiked fence, calmly enter the camp, drag out the workers one by one, and devour them.
Lions attack humans
During the months of standoffs, the camp suffered heavy losses, and more and more workers died tragically at the mouth of the animal, with at least a hundred tragic deaths, according to the Major's recollection. The shadow of death lowered the atmosphere of the camp to a lower freezing point, and every night people did not dare to sleep, afraid of not being able to sleep. In the end, the workers could not bear the threat of death, and hundreds of workers gathered to escape from this "hell on earth". This made Major Patterson, who was the administrator, very angry, because the workers could not start work if they fled the railway, and he would be blamed domestically, so he vowed to kill the two beasts.
Shoot the man-eaters
Major Patterson, in addition to being a brave officer, was a well-rounded hunter who had hunted the East African giant antelope and was well versed in hunting techniques. In order to eliminate the man-eating lion, the major also transferred a team of well-equipped Indian musketeers from India. For the Major, hunting animals was a common thing, but hunting the piranha lion was still the big girl on the car, and for the first time, it made him more interested in hunting the piranha lion.
Musketeers
Initially, Major Patterson set a series of traps, as was customary, hiding poison in dead animals, placing traps, hiding in trees to ambush lions, but all attempts failed, and the two lions were like sperm, and they always escaped the crisis. In the end, the major could only use stupid methods to release dead animal corpses in the camp, attract lions with flesh and blood, and then wait for rabbits. But this method was very risky, it was easy to overturn, and it required a cool head and superb marksmanship, so the major volunteered to be the candidate for the caretaker of the corpse.
Unexpectedly, a lion, attracted by the flesh, came to the tent, and a huge shadow came towards them in the darkness, and the footsteps of the lion awakened the major, and he cleverly picked up the spear, touched it and opened fire, and the lion howled, which was hit. The lion confronted Major Patterson for the first time, which ended with the lion injured.
Hunt lions
Subsequently, the major continued to carry out the strategy with a bang, this time he was fully prepared to hit the lion again, but this time the lion did not escape, it was provoked by this "two-legged beast", not only did not flee but more ferocious, but the flesh mortal fetus could not withstand the steel bullet after all, and the evil man-eating lion fell under the rifle. Twenty days later, Major Patterson repeated the trick and solved the remaining lion, and a total of three rifles were used in this battle to kill the fierce lion.
After hundreds of days of guerrilla warfare, the two infamous, lawless man-eating lions are finally dead, the workers can work in peace, and everything is back on track. The two man-eating lions naturally became Colonel Patterson's collection, and 25 years later they became the collection of the museum, telling the world about those bloody nights.
Man-eating lion specimen
Although the lions are dead, the mystery of their bodies has not yet been solved. Why does a male lion not have a mane? Why do they eat people? All kinds of questions become a big stone in the hearts of researchers.
Why don't piranhas have mane?
The Tsavo Cannibals are a special kind of lion, they do not have the beautiful mane of the ordinary male lion, only some messy short hairs under the jaw or no mane, why is this?
A lion that was killed
According to the theories of many biologists, they believe that the male lion's thick and smooth mane is a means of attracting the opposite sex, growing out of sexual selection, just like the male peacock opens the screen, the male animal will spend more time and energy to take care of its beautiful feathers and mane. The aim is to gain more favor from females and pass on this trait to the next generation.
Lion head
But before breeding, animals must have enough food to survive before they have time to take care of themselves. According to the study of zoologist Professor Bruce Patterson, the Tsavo manifold lion has no mane because of the local climate. Located in Kenya, Africa, Tsavo has a typical tropical climate, with drought and heat being reserved. Not only is there little rainfall here, but there is no water source, and the animals have a particularly difficult life.
In the heat, animals have to adapt to the climate in order to survive, so in the cruel natural selection, the Tsavo mane lion chooses to throw away the beautiful but heavy mane to reduce the accumulation of heat. The presence of mane will make the lion's body hotter.
Tsavo Man-Eating Lion
So what is the reason for the man-eating lion eating man? Or the harsh local environment. Carnivores have the characteristic of attacking predators, and attacks are common sense that has been engraved in their genes for generations. It's just that other carnivores don't attack humans much, and the Chavo piranha lions frequently attack humans because of the harsh climate, dry land, and scarce food, and in order to survive, these lions must seize every opportunity to fill their stomachs. So, driven by hunger, they focused their attention on weaker humans.
epilogue
Although the Tsavo man-eating lion is fierce, it still falls under the gun of humans, which shows that technological advances can bring life to human beings. Today, the piranha lion has long become a legend, put on the big screen, and become a part of people's entertainment life.