Stories tagged lions
Lion vacation: An African big cat appears to be on the loose in Colorado
There have been several confirmed sightings of an African lion on the loose in the rural areas about 30 miles outside of Colorado Springs. A local "big cat" sanctuary reports all of its lions are present and accounted for. This link can take to you links with photos that people have snapped of the Colorado interloper.
Tags : We've recently posted some pretty cool predator/prey videos here on the Buzz. Here's one more to take a look at...what happens when a pride of lion cubs find a porcupine strolling by.
Tsavo Maneaters: Even scary in black and white.Last week I made a trip to Chicago with the sole purpose of going to the Field Museum. I had never been there before, and I was not disappointed. I saw plenty of cool stuff, including the stuffed bodies of the famous Tsavo man-eating lions. Coincidentally, last week the National Museum of Kenya demanded the return of the lions to Nairobi, claiming that they are important artifacts of the country’s history and heritage. I’m all for it – as long as I’ve seen the lions, I really don’t care what happens to them. I make all my decisions that way.
I do recommend that you look into the story of the lions, though. It’s pretty “badass” (I got that term off of the text on the Field Museum’s display). The short version of the story is this: In 1898, during the construction of a bridge over the Tsavo River for the Kenya-Uganda railway (dubbed “The Lunatic Express”), two exceptionally large, maneless male lions killed and ate about 140 railway workers over the course of nine months. That’s so many people.
The workers built thorn fences around their encampment, and set traps for the animals, but the lions were always able to crawl through the barriers, and avoid the traps and any ambush attempts, to drag men from their tents and eat them. Eventually Lt. Col. John Henry Patterson (an engineer overseeing the bridge’s construction) was able to shoot and kill the lions, although he claimed that each was able to withstand several shots from his rifle before falling.
Scientists are still unsure as to cause of the Tsavo maneaters unusual aggression and preference for human flesh, but several theories have been put forth. Some think that the lions’ skulls indicate that each had abscessed gums, which could have made attacking large and tougher animals too painful. Another theory is that an outbreak of rinderpest disease (a viral infection effecting cattle and related species) had decimated the lions’ usual food source, and forced them to seek other prey (i.e., humans). John Patterson’s journals also indicate that the graves of deceased workers had been disturbed and that the bodies had been removed, and some believe that the lions developed their taste for humans by scavenging in this way, and then modified their behavior to capture the sleeping workers from their tents.
The movie The Ghost and the Darkness is about the Tsavo events. It stars Michael Douglass and international film sensation Madmartigan.
Any thoughts on artifact repatriation, or about the lions specifically?
Lately I’ve been reading a book called “Predatory Dinosaurs of the World” by Gregory S. Paul that details the traits and behaviors of carnivorous dinosaurs throughout the Mesozoic Era. Of course, since most dinosaurs (except birds) have been extinct for 65 million years, the theories in the book derive mainly from clues left in the fossil record. However, a lot can also deduced from studying and comparing the behaviors of present day predators and prey. It’s easy to surmise that not much in that arena has really changed over time.
Which brings me to this amazing piece of video I stumbled upon on YouTube. It was taken at South Africa's Kruger National Park by tourist David Budzinski, and is a great example of predator-prey behavior! This one even has a couple surprises which I wasn't expecting. I think you’ll find it as fascinating as I did.
Scientists in Maryland have put together a family tree for cats. Using DNA evidence, they found that the first cats evolved in South East Asia around 11 million years ago. The Panthera genus, which includes lions, tigers and jaguars, evolved first. Various other groups evolved rapidly, with the final group, the ancestor of the domestic house cat, emerging in Africa and Europe about 6.5 million years ago.
Confuse-a-cat: The evolutionary history of cats is quite a head-scratcher!
According to
this blogger, the interesting thing about this study is that it was done entirely by genetics — by comparing DNA samples. Species with similar DNA are considered to be close relatives. The more traditional way of figuring out evolutionary relationships — by studying fossils — was less helpful in this particular case. Cat fossils look very much alike, and it can be extremely difficult to figure out exactly which species is related to which. Especially in a family like the cats, where the different animals moved around a lot. (According to the study, the ancestors of the cheetah started in South East Asia, moved to North America, and then back to Asia / Africa!)
Just goes to show that evidence for evolution comes from many different sources.
* (Yes, it's another obscure reference to pop songs from Gene's formative years...)
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