The Man-Eaters of Tsavo
John Henry Patterson
Patterson’s account of the attacks and the hunt.
Coalition · Ended
The Tsavo Man-Eaters
Also known as The Ghost and the Darkness · Tsavo River, Kenya, 1898
March – December 1898
Origin: Tsavo region, Kenya
The Tsavo Man-Eaters were two maneless male lions who, in 1898, preyed on the workers building the Uganda Railway bridge over the Tsavo River in Kenya. They are the most studied man-eating lions in history. A DNA study in 2024 confirmed that they were brothers; each lion had the other’s hair packed into his teeth from grooming.
From March 1898, days after the engineer Lieutenant-Colonel John Henry Patterson arrived, workers began to vanish from their tents at night. At first one lion came at a time, later both, each seizing a victim. Thorn fences, fires and guards failed; hundreds of workers fled and construction stopped. The British prime minister, Lord Salisbury, spoke of the lions in the House of Lords. Patterson shot the first lion on 9 December 1898 and the second on 29 December, and the bridge was finished in February 1899.
Patterson claimed 135 victims. The railway’s records gave 28, and a 2009 chemical analysis of the lions’ bones and hair estimated about 35, with a possible range up to 72. Patterson used the skins as rugs for 25 years before selling them, with the skulls, to the Field Museum in Chicago in 1924, where the two lions are on display today. Their story became Patterson’s bestselling book and several films, including The Ghost and the Darkness (1996).
Members
~35Victims (2009 estimate)
135Victims Patterson claimed
9Months of attacks
2Brothers
Profile
Coalition
- Members
- Two maneless male lions
- Relationship
- BrothersConfirmed by DNA in 2024
- Origin / birthplace
- Tsavo region, Kenya
- How it formed
- Information not availableNot known; they were adult males hunting together in 1898
Reign
- Area
- The railway camps along about eight miles of line at the Tsavo River bridge
- Prides ruled
- Information not available
- Took over from
- Information not available
- Reign
- Nine months of attacks (March – December 1898)
- Territory size
- Information not available
End
- End of the coalition
- Both shot by John Henry Patterson: 9 and 29 December 1898
- Successors
- Information not available
Names & Meanings
The Tsavo Man-EatersName
After the Tsavo River and region of Kenya.
The Ghost and the DarknessPopular name
From the 1996 film. Some accounts say the names were used by the workers in 1898; this is not documented in Patterson’s book.
FMNH 23970 and FMNH 23969Catalogue numbers
Their specimen numbers at the Field Museum, Chicago.
Story of the Coalition
- March 1898
Bridge construction began at Tsavo; workers began disappearing within days of Patterson’s arrival.
- 1898
The attacks paused for several months, then resumed, at times almost daily. Hundreds of workers fled and work stopped.
- 1898
District Officer Whitehead was clawed across the back by one of the lions; his assistant Abdullah was killed.
- 9 December 1898
Patterson shot the first lion.
- 29 December 1898
Patterson killed the second lion.
- February 1899
The Tsavo bridge was completed.
- 1907
Patterson published The Man-Eaters of Tsavo.
- 1924
Patterson sold the skins and skulls to the Field Museum, Chicago, for $5,000.
- 2009
An isotope study estimated about 35 victims in total.
- 2024
DNA from hair in their teeth confirmed they were brothers and identified their other prey, including zebra, giraffe, oryx, waterbuck and wildebeest.
Legend & Truth
135, 35 or 28?
Patterson’s total of 135 is now thought to be exaggerated. The railway counted 28 victims, but only among Indian workers; African victims were not recorded. The 2009 estimate of about 35 is the most widely cited.
Why did they eat people?
Suggested causes include a broken tooth that made hunting large prey painful for one lion, prey lost to the rinderpest epidemic of the 1890s, and the many unburied dead along the slave caravan route that crossed the Tsavo River.
Not starving
Their tooth wear shows they ate soft food and did not crunch bones; DNA shows they still hunted wildlife. They added people to their diet rather than turning to them in desperation.
Photographs
Photograph coming soon
Photograph coming soon
Photograph coming soon
Film
The film of The Tsavo Man-Eaters is coming soon
Animation
An animated story of The Tsavo Man-Eaters is coming soon
Documentaries & Features
The Lions of Tsavo
Bruce D. Patterson
A Field Museum curator’s scientific investigation of the man-eaters.
The Ghost and the Darkness
Stephen Hopkins — Paramount
Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas in a dramatised version of the story.
Sources
- Wikipedia — Tsavo Man-Eaters
- Field Museum — Tsavo Lions
- UC Santa Cruz — Man-eaters likely ate about 35 people
- Smithsonian — DNA reveals the Tsavo lions’ diets (2024)
- National Geographic — How many people did the Tsavo lions eat?
- Atlas Obscura — Tsavo Man Eaters
Where sources disagree, the most widely reported figure is shown, with other reports noted beneath it.