Dr. Bruce D. Patterson, author of “Lions of Tsavo,” visited Tuesday to lecture on how lions have been misrepresented in popular culture. He also suggested possible ways to improve relations between humans and lions in the future.
Dr. Patterson did his research at the Galla Camp, located in Kenya, twenty kilometers west of Tsavo East.
Patterson’s speech was formatted through the debunking of a variety of misconceptions about lions, and specifically lions from Tsavo, which are famous for having killed 28 British railroad workers and several other Africans, at the turn of the century. A film, called “The Ghost and the Darkness,” was made in 1996 about the killings.
One of Patterson’s first points was to rebuke the myth that all Tsavo lions are man-eaters. A study of one lion’s teeth found that the upper canine was in such bad condition that it would be excruciatingly painful for the lion to kill other animals with it.
The way in which lion groups are structured was also addressed in the lecture. Patterson stated that female lions usually stay in a specific area and have two to four male lions with them at one time. Having more than four male lions creates tension between them in the group, yet having less than two leaves the group vulnerable to attack by other predators. While males protect the borders of their group’s territory, both males and females help with hunting. Every few years, after copulating males will leave the group and others will come to take their place.
Patterson also addressed why male lions in Tsavo don’t have manes. Some used to believe that lions without manes were impotent males, yet Patterson pointed out that many of these lions are very successful reproductively. Some scholars have proposed that male lions may even be suffering from over-production of testosterone, which may lead to male-pattern baldness.
Other scholars have proposed that, because having a mane can more quickly overheat a lion, mane length varies according to surrounding climate temperature. But Patterson suggested that relative temperature plays a less important role than the lions’ access to water. Because a mane may overheat lions, lions without adequate access to water may be better off without them.
Patterson stated this by saying, “no rain, no mane.”
According to Patterson, the stereotype of male lions having large manes stems from the Serengeti and that lions in different environments behave differently and have different traits.
Patterson added that even though Tsavo lions come from the same family as other lions in Africa, the same genotype can produce different phenotypes, based on environmental conditions and that more experimentation needs to be done to better understand the effect of environment on different traits, such as mane length.
Patterson hopes his research can be used to ameliorate the conditions between people living in Tsavo and the lions. Livestock loss usually coincides with rainfall, and Patterson hopes that by teaching people about how and when predators prey on livestock, they can better be prepared for when the lions might be desperate for food and attack. Patterson found that lions will only kill livestock when there is no rain, and cattle herders can change their practices around this knowledge.
Ultimately, Patterson wants people to reach a fuller understanding of these animals in the variable habitats and conditions they live in.
“Lions are smart. They know people retaliate when they kill livestock or people,” he said.
The number of free lions in Africa has decreased significantly since 1980, when there were estimated to be over 100,000 lions in Africa. Patterson estimates that today only about 23,500 free lions left on the continent. He suggests that it is possible to coexist, and to save the lion from disappearing, if more is learned about them.
Barry Chernoff, Professor of Biology and Earth and Environmental Science, organized the talk.
“We’re looking for seminar speakers that are doing critical work that will ultimately inspire students to get involved in really exciting research where they can make a difference,” he said.
“I thought it was interesting because he dispelled many myths about lions,” said Elena Green ’08.
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