The Tsavo Man-Eaters were a pair of man-eating East African lions from the Tsavo region, which were responsible for the deaths of a number of construction workers on the Kenya-Uganda Railway from March through December 1898. The significance of this pair of lions was their unusual behavior, such as the number of men killed and the manner of the attacks.
Theories for the man-eating behaviour of lions have been reviewed by Peterhans and Gnoske, as well as Bruce D. Patterson (2004). Their discussions include the following:
An outbreak of rinderpest (cattle plague) in 1898 devastated the lions' usual prey, forcing them to find alternative food sources.
The Tsavo lions may have been accustomed to finding dead humans at the Tsavo River crossing. Slave caravans bound for Zanzibar routinely crossed the river there.
"Ritual invitation", or abbreviated cremation of Hindu railroad workers, invited scavenging by the lions.
An alternative argument indicates that the first lion had a severely damaged tooth that would have compromised its ability to kill natural prey.[10] This theory has been generally disregarded by the general public and Colonel Patterson, who killed the lions, personally disclaimed it, saying that he damaged that tooth with his rifle while the lion charged him one night, prompting it to flee.
Studies indicate the lions ate humans as a supplement to other food, not as a last resort. Eating humans was probably an alternative to hunting or scavenging caused by dental disease and/or a limited number of prey.
In a recent study carried out by the team of Doctor Bruce Patterson, it has been found that one of the lions had an infection at the root of his canine tooth, having made it hard for the lion to hunt. Lions normally use their jaws to grab prey like zebras and wildebeests and suffocate them..