The last thing I expected on a business trip to Chicago was to see anything related to big game hunting.  Imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon the dreaded Man-Eaters of Tsavo at the Field Museum of Natural History.  These are the lions immortalized in the 1907 novel of the same name by Lt. Col. J.H. Patterson and later depicted in the movie adaptation, The Ghost and the Darkness.  The 1996 film with Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas is not the only film version of Patterson’s story.  Bwana Devil is considered the first American color feature shot in 3-D.  Starring Robert Stack and Barbara Britton, the 1952 movie promised:  “A LION in your lap! A LOVER in your arms!”

The most striking difference between the real-life lions and the cinematic versions is their lack of manes.  Apparently due to the extreme heat in Tsavo, lions there are often maneless.  The hides were trimmed down for display as trophy rugs, so the live specimens were even larger than they are as displayed at the Field Museum.  Nonetheless, taxidermist Julius Friesser did an excellent job restoring the skins and patching bullet holes considering the quarter-century or so the lions spent as carpeting.  Patterson sold the hides and skulls to the museum in 1924 for the considerable sum of $5,000.