Even if the main fear is the beach bar bill or the theft of your purse and flip-flops in an overlooked case, I always recommend avoiding watching the movie before a beach vacation. Shark (Spielberg, 1975). Until we get stuck in the water and touching a plastic bag triggers panic, we’re sure we’ll be followed by John Williams’ soundtrack: Wild shark’s skin? Literature, and above all cinema, has not been the best PR campaign for the widely vilified shark guild. Instead of protecting these fish, which are so necessary for the balance of the seas and oceans, we continue to hunt: kill the ‘bad guy’. The same can be said for another movie that upset the audience’s soul. I mean demons of the night (Stephen Hopkins, 1996). Here, the gigantic great white shark is replaced by a pair of hungry lions that ruthlessly hunt human prey.
Filmography of ‘man-eating’ felines is wider and now released Creature (Baltasar Kormakur, 2022). In short, if you are planning a photo safari and camping in the African savanna, it is recommended that you learn to separate fact from fiction, otherwise you will not be able to sleep peacefully. This primate has lived with wild lions in Africa for over 25 years and can confirm that they are not vicious animals. So why, contrary to what fantasy Sharkplot demons of the night Is it based on a historical event?
terror in the camp
In March 1898, a British army engineer, Colonel John Henry Patterson, was sent to Tsavo, Kenya, to direct the construction of the railway connecting Mombasa to Lake Victoria. In the absence of skilled labor, most of the workers came from India. To be exact, as soon as he arrived, Patterson received reports that several Indians had been attacked and devoured by felines. A pair of male lions had terrorized the camp; they crept through fences and stole people even as they slept inside. Railroad work came to a standstill, and the colonel devoted all his effort to eliminating what many already saw as night ‘demons’. Traps were set up, live bait and lookout points, and predators managed to escape every day; Until it hit them in December of the same year. The skins of both samples were prepared as rugs for the Pattersons’ house. During a trip to the United States in 1924, they sold the trophy along with the other remains of both creatures.– To the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, where they decided to turn the skins into taxed animals. They are still on public display today.
The testimony of what happened in Kenya was published by Colonel Patterson (Tsavo Man Eaters; Edhasa). The book is full of alleged exaggerations and, according to the author, more than a hundred workers would die.; However, given the harsh working and sanitary conditions, it is certain that most of the Indian and African casualties were the responsibility of European rail managers rather than a few cats. For example, isotopic analyzes from bones preserved in Chicago made it possible to study the diets of both specimens and specimens. it is calculated that they will only consume a maximum of 35 people.. However, it is undeniable that there are many victims. But I insist, lions are not murderers of men and women, except in exceptional circumstances. What happened in Tsavo, an episode on which the false myth about killer lions was built?
Rinderpest and poor graves
At the end of the 19th century and due to drought, an epidemic of rinderpest appeared that wiped out large herds of weeds: the food source of natural predators. This coincided with the arrival of 3,000 railroad workers; accidents and diseases killed a significant part of them, and little care given to their bodies could have made it easier for lions to access human flesh.; They are not scavengers, but hunger dictates the rules. Gradually they lost their fear. homo sapiens and they dared to attack the camps at night. Faced with the degradation of forests and the disappearance of their usual prey, wolves have specialized in capturing domestic animals; and seagulls that once fed on the sea now fill city dumps or steal passers-by’s sandwiches. The goal is to survive.
In addition, the anatomical study of Tsavo lions shows that at least one of them suffered from dental pathology in their teeth. Teething is essential for hunting and eating large animals, and it’s normal for a predator with a mouth problem to focus its attention on weaker creatures to avoid extinction.. In fact, during the colonial occupation of Africa, there was a lot of talk about other ‘man-eaters’. Solitary old lions (female, not male, prey in a family group) do not have the speed to catch the sick and children and the elderly or unsuspecting adults. White hunters like John A. Hunter killed some of these cats on behalf of the British government in Kenya. Ranger George G. Rushby tracks down a family of lions in the Tanzanian town of Njombe; By his calculations, between 1932 and 1947, they would have killed more than a thousand indigenous people. Again it caused an epidemic of drought and rinderpest.
Leonine cultural tradition
Under normal circumstances, felines are not interested in us for food. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here. I sleep under the acacias of the Serengeti in tents whose mosquito net windows are a ridiculous barrier to the huge and sharp claws of the lions; those roaring around you and hunting wildebeest—and other game animals—in our camps more than once. I study and film genres during the day panther lion on open SUVs; Lion families pass so close to the vehicle that if I reach out my hand, it will touch their heads. What’s stopping me from having lunch when I’m already in the 4×4 in a jump?
Since prehistory, lions have learned that humans are the equivalent of problems. Lacking speed, strength, claws or long fangs, we use tools and devise complex social cooperation strategies to confront the dangers of the savannah.. As a result, after numerous encounters between hominins and lions where cats could turn out badly, the accumulated experience of the lion king – cultural tradition – states that hunting a zebra is easier and more efficient than hunting these two-legged primates recently. came to their house. In this sense, when I try to follow a group of lions without running away, I never do this in the company of Masai. warriors centuries ago ilmoranArmed with spears and machetes, confront these felines to show their courage; or they killed any of those who accidentally killed one of their cows. Detecting the presence of a Maasai and the lion prefers to go the other way. And stranger? As long as we follow the logical rules of the savannah, lions will go about their daily lives: they hunt on four legs.
Watch out for the hippo
The truth is that the mosquito Anopheles It remains the deadliest animal in Africa (malaria is an endemic disease). And among mammals, the three herbivores – hippopotamus, buffalo and elephant – cause the largest number of fatal crashes. But in the savannah and on the whole planet, the most dangerous animal is man. Poaching and sport hunting, added to the consequences of climate change and the humane occupation of natural areas, can cause large predators to disappear in a very short time.
To finish and see the trailer CreatureI would like to recommend the masterpiece about the real behavior of the lion: Serengeti lion, by the naturalist George B. Schaller. Not forgetting Joy Adamson’s diary about her experiences with the lioness Elsa: born free (Captain Swing). A conservation effort that perpetuates her husband, George, who was killed by poachers, the recently deceased Tony Fitzjohn, and a large number of African men and women. And the truth is that there are no bad animals in nature… it’s a human culture cliché.