For Immediate Release April 7, 1998 Contact: Pat Kremer (312) 665-7100 (For Media Use Only) FIELD MUSEUM SCIENTISTS FIND CAVE OF MAN-EATING LIONS CHICAGO -- Field Museum scientists working in Africa have rediscovered the lost cave which may still contain human remains of some of the victims killed by the man-eating lions of Tsavo, Kenya in 1898. The lions, which are part of a popular permanent exhibit at the Museum, gained international attention in 1996 with the release of the motion picture, "The Ghost and the Darkness." Excavations of the cave, known as the "man-eaters' den," will be part of an historic partnership agreement between The Field Museum and the Kenya Wildlife Service. John McCarter, Jr., President of The Field Museum, and Dr. David Western, Director of the Kenya Wildlife Service, will sign the agreement at 11:45 a.m., April 7, in front of the Museum's display of the man-eating lions. The dramatic story of the lions has endured for 100 years. Two large male lions killed and ate nearly 130 workers in Tsavo (pronounced SAH-vo) during construction of the Uganda Railway in 1898. They terrorized work camps, halting construction and causing hundreds of workers to flee the area. Under these dangerous circumstances, chief railway engineer, Lt. Col. John Henry Patterson, shot both lions later that year. In 1924, Patterson sold the lions' skins and skulls to The Field Museum and taxidermist Julius Friesser created the life-like mounts. (Coincidentally, Patterson's son, Bryan Patterson, worked from 1926 to 1955 as a member of the Geology Department at The Field Museum. He was Curator of Fossil Vertebrates for 14 years.) First discovered by Col. Patterson in 1898, the location of the Tsavo lions' cave littered with human remains was lost until it was rediscovered on April 30, 1997, by Field Museum Zoologist, Tom Gnoske, and Roosevelt University Professor and Museum Adjunct Curator, Julian Kerbis Peterhans. The men used a 1899 photograph of the cave to confirm their finding. The cave played an important role in "The Ghost and the Darkness" as well as in Patterson's book, The Man-eaters of Tsavo and Other East African Adventures (1914). Excavations of the cave will begin in September, 1998, under the joint direction of the Museum's Curator of Archaeology, Chap Kusimba, and his counterpart at the National Museums of Kenya, I. Karega-Munene. The Field Museum's Curator of Zoology, Bruce Patterson (no relation to Col. Patterson), will also study the biology and genetics of Tsavo's lions. The Field Museum has had a long-standing interest in Kenya natural history, begun over a century ago during the Museum's first zoological expeditions. The April 7 signing of the agreement between The Field Museum and the Kenya Wildlife Service will form the basis of a long-term collaboration in research, training and public education about biological and cultural diversity and conservation in East Africa. A major goal of the Kenya Wildlife Service is the joint development of the Tsavo Interpretive Centre containing exhibits and other programs that will inform Tsavo park visitors of the dynamics and diversity of the area's environments. The Tsavo lions are on display in the Rice Research Station in the Museum's first floor west wing. Viewing is free with regular Museum admission.