My wife and I were recently in Chicago for business so I had to swing by the Field Museum to see the Lions of Tsavo. Below are the best pics I could get. As an FYI there is a sign with the lions saying that they were larger in real life and that the skins were in bad shape when Col Patterson sold them to the Field Museum in the 1920s for $5,000. The taxidermist removed some of the skins that were damaged in mounting them.



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wow. they still look bad.

The unique thing about the lions of Tsavo, is that they don't have manes. The movie "Ghost and the Darkness" show them to have full manes. I would like to get up to the Chicago Field Museum some day and see them for my self. I have traveled to Chicago often on business, just never took time to make it over to the museum. Thanks for sharing this bit of history.

The other man eating lion in the exhibit was very impressive. The one with the laundry bag. He was a monster. The didn't have to make him out of old rugs.

From the Internet:

Scottfromdallas: when you speak of the monster with the laundry bag, I suppose that you refer to the Mfuwe lion. Am I right?.
Regards

Yep. Here is the link. I remember how big he was when I was at the Field Museum. It was a great exhibit.

http://www.bluelion.org/man_eater_of_mfuwe.htm

quote:

Originally posted by nainital:
Scottfromdallas: when you speak of the monster with the laundry bag, I suppose that you refer to the Mfuwe lion. Am I right?.
Regards

He was there too. The display was on the lower level.

Kind of looks like the dogs in "I Am Legend". Ugly!!!

Thanks for sharing the pics.

I believe the size discrepancy for the current mounts from the original lions is due to that fact they were originally rugs. I guess the hides were trimmed some to make the rugs and the taxidermist had a fit getting them put back together, so they ended up smaller.

Brett

I know when a Lion has been castrated - he looses his mane, if sterilized - he doesn't.

Was it because of castration (by hyena, Buff or even other Lion etc.) that the Tsavo Lions lost their manes?

Hmmmm. That's a new one!

Brett

May be wrong, but I believe I read somewhere that other lions in the area also lack manes.

I believe Charles Beukes was the Professional Hunter for the Maneater of Mfuwe. The story of the hunt is really a great read.

http://www.fieldmuseum.org/exh...savo/mfuwe_story.pdf


Here is the lion hunting story.

quote:

Originally posted by scottfromdallas:
Yep. Here is the link. I remember how big he was when I was at the Field Museum. It was a great exhibit.

http://www.bluelion.org/man_eater_of_mfuwe.htm

That link has one thing that is incorrect! The pronouncation of "Mfuwe" is not MUH-FU-Way but like the letter "M", "M"-fu-wee! I've hunted this area quite a bit, and there are, or were a lot of lion , and Leopard in this area, and the lion mentioned in the link isn't the only maneater taken in this area, and at least one other was also a maneless male. With the lions of Tsavo, and at least two in the Luangwa Valley being mainless males all being LARGE maneaters, is food for thought IMO!

quote:

Originally posted by Kathi:
I believe Charles Beukes was the Professional Hunter for the Maneater of Mfuwe. The story of the hunt is really a great read.

Charl Beukes is a friend of mine, and he was the PH on one of them at least. At that time he was owner of the Mfuwe Croc farm, and Malombo Safaris, (formerly Negwenya safaris) and is now one of the partners in TANZANIA GAME TRACKERS.

I'v seen them in Chicago , and yes they look ratty, BUT the history is still there under those skins and knowing the terror those claws and teeth generated so long ago still gave me a tingle and a chance to stare history in the eye.

I agree with Dave, not great taxidermy but a priceless piece of Africana.

I am glad that to see that they used the hides they bought and did not try to inhance it to what they thought people might want to see.I hate it when museums fiddle with orginal artifacts.

quote:

Originally posted by Kathi:
http://www.fieldmuseum.org/exh...savo/mfuwe_story.pdf


Here is the lion hunting story.

Many thanks for that

I remember vaguely reading an educated article about the lions in the Tsavo area being a subspecies, thinner and taller. But for the life of me I can´t remember the author or the magazine, I believe it was National Geographic, but I´m not sure....you know, that darned German, Alzheimer.

quote:

Originally posted by MacD37:
Charl Beukes is a friend of mine, and he was the PH on one of them at least. At that time he was owner of the Mfuwe Croc farm, and Malombo Safaris, (formerly Negwenya safaris) and is now one of the partners in TANZANIA GAME TRACKERS.

Charl Beukes was employed as the Managing Director of TGTS from 2001 to 2007. He is no longer associated with TGTS since then.

quote:

Originally posted by nainital:
I remember vaguely reading an educated article about the lions in the Tsavo area being a subspecies, thinner and taller. But for the life of me I can´t remember the author or the magazine, I believe it was National Geographic, but I´m not sure....you know, that darned German, Alzheimer.

You see those 2 blackish marks on the chest area of the one standing? That is the tell tale sign of the sub-specie that occurs in Tsavo and is of the maneless variety. Similar to the Mountain Buffalo in the recent Safari Times article

It was educational to read various posts on this thread about the man eating lions of Tsavo. I went to see "The Ghost and the Darkness" expecting to see some kind of approximate story as to what happened and left the movie house quite sure that it couldn't have been that way. (Starting with hunter Val Kilmer sitting in a tree for a shot that wouldn't have been over 50 feet -and with a sling on his rifle) I must confess that while I can understand a maneless lion being extremely dangerous, this exhibit shows lions almost bald -and a lioness looks way better. Just my opinion. I defer to people who know better -but I do hate having one more illusion shattered -about what I had always pictured as full maned lions in all their majesty! (As you can guess, I'm a romantic about lions)

I too remember reading that those two lions were a maneless sub-species or race, found in that area. It was an entire book on the subject, and sadly I cannot remember the title or author, but I got it from the library. I also recall that the altitude or dry climate was somehow correlated with their morphology and behavior. If I can find the reference I will pass it along.
I too would like to see those lions at the museum. Homely or not.
My wife hated the movie.
Lou M