<Ul> <Li> An outbreak of rinderpest (cattle plague) in 1898 devastated the lions' usual prey, forcing them to find alternative food sources . </Li> <Li> The Tsavo lions may have been accustomed to finding dead humans at the Tsavo River crossing . Slave caravans bound for Zanzibar routinely crossed the river there . </Li> <Li> "Ritual invitation", or abbreviated cremation of Hindu railroad workers, invited scavenging by the lions . </Li> </Ul> <Li> An outbreak of rinderpest (cattle plague) in 1898 devastated the lions' usual prey, forcing them to find alternative food sources . </Li> <Li> The Tsavo lions may have been accustomed to finding dead humans at the Tsavo River crossing . Slave caravans bound for Zanzibar routinely crossed the river there . </Li> <Li> "Ritual invitation", or abbreviated cremation of Hindu railroad workers, invited scavenging by the lions . </Li>

The lions at the field museum in chicago