Ethnographic weapons

[Bill M]

Originally Posted by Yannis

Wow Bill, that was scary!

The Tsavo (means "slaughter") lions of Kenya are some of the worst maneaters.

Two lions like this killed and ate about 140 railroad workers trying to build a bridge through Kenya in the late 1800's. The story tells how they came at night and dragged workers sleeping by campfires out into the darkness.

It is very unusual for males to hunt, especially together. Usually it is the lionesses that hunt in prides.

The two almost maneless lions assumed mythical proportions, terrorizing workers and nearly stopped the building of the railroad bridge. They eluded traps and hunters, crept through man-made thorn barriers and seemed invincible.

Finally in 1898 Col Patterson shot one and then, three weeks later, the other one. He had rugs made of their skins. Finally these were donated to the Field Museum.

http://ezinearticles.com/?African-Li...savo&id=467243

My lion measures over nine feet from tip of nose to tip of tail. He was the last legally taken Tsavo lion (mid 1980's) in Africa before they became a protected species.