Man Eating Lions Apparently on Diet

The (relatively) famous man eating lions that plagued railway construction in Kenya in the late 1800s may not have been as insatiable as many believed. The Railway Gazette writes analysis of the isotopes found in the fur of the skins shows what the lions were eating (or not) before they died. One probably ate 3.5 humans and the other 8.1. This is somewhat less than the 135 deaths attributed to the lions at the time. If you wish, you can read more on this topic in the delightfully named 'Co-operation and individuality among man-eating lions' by J D Yeakel published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Because it matters.