From a one-ton crocodile that may have killed 300 people to a leopard who munched on 250 different victims, this list of man-eating beasts is fascinating although a bit depressing.
Genetic tests on the hairs of both Tsavo lions indicates one did most of the hunting and consuming of humans, at around 35 while the other partook of the festivities. Yes, Cathy! The events leading up to these cases of eating humans is probably created by the humans themselves. In the area of which the Tsavo lions ate humans, it was a dumping ground for the slave trade; those slaves which could not continue were left. Years of this activity leads to a preference for hunting humans. Nature is opportunistic. What would you rather hunt as a carnivore, 1200 pounds of Cape buffalo with sharp horns and hooves or the squealy hairless ape, practically defenseless? This also manifests in a smaller yet no more less deadly sequence of events such as Ebola virus deaths. Hunters go into the previously unencroached forest for bush meat and unknowingly bring back the virus where it kills a whole village.
humans kill billions of animals a year and somehow that is ethical??! ... But if a tiger kills a mere 400 people out of billions, then it's unethical and ethical to kill the tiger??!! This is so wrong!!
The possibility that any one of these cases may actually be perpetrated by more that 1 creature should be considered. A single tiger branded the Champawat tiger was blamed for over 400 deaths and missing persons across India and Nepal in the late 19th century. I think it catches the public's imagination more to believe in a single rogue killer rather than a series of unrelated attacks.