The man-eaters of Tsavo and the untapped potential of natural history collections

One of the best-known exhibits at Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History features the man-eating lions of Tsavo. Over a period of nine months in 1898, this pair of lions systematically hunted, killed and consumed railroad workers engaged in building a bridge over the Tsavo River in East Africa. The lions were eventually killed by an engineer, J. H. Patterson, who afterwards wrote a best-selling book about the episode. His dramatic story has been retold in countless articles, books, and motion pictures, each more sensational and gory than the last. What parts are true? Fortunately, the lions' skins and skulls offer an independent and verifiable chronicle of events that actually transpired. These two specimens effectively re-wrote their own history through the scientific research sparked by their notoriety, reminding us that the collections of natural history museums hold almost limitless potential to illuminate the world around us and its history.