The following is my translation of an article called: 'Zur Biologie des Löwen' von W. Kersten. It appeared in a German popular science magazine, Kosmos Handweiser für Naturfreunde 1910, Heft 1, Seiten 12-14. I'm not aware of any previous translation.
Trevor Dykes.

The biology of the lion by W. Kersten
A train steamed through the rich, wild East African savannah. "We literally had the feeling that we were travelling through the middle of a zoological garden. At one moment we overtook a herd of some 12 giraffes, males, females and young, which were traipsing through bush about 200m to the right of the train. Then, from even nearer, we saw four fallow deer, with their long ears pricked forwards, and they did not move until we were past. One could see antelope everywhere, even on the track; a herd sprang up as the whistle of the engine sounded, and they took themselves out of shooting range. Large black ostriches appeared from time to time. A herd of zebras crossed the line with thundering hoofs when less than 100m in front of the train, and their pace was increased by the whistle but only for a moment as, when we had passed them by, they resumed eating." So reported the incumbent President of the United States, Th. Roosevelt, of his journey through British East Africa on the Ugandan Railway which -818km long- connects the Indian Ocean, the Victoria Falls and Uganda. The objective of this expedition for this passionate hunter was namely to hunt lions in every area which Schilling has introduced us to, with his fine reports and photographs and, recently, from the travelogue of Duke Adolf Friedrich zu Mecklenburg, as wild animals are numerous there while, in South Africa for example, the number of lions has been reduced, in some cases even to extinction.

The American newspaper, 'Collier's Magazine', received reports from locations visited by the Roosevelt Expedition from a journalist, Radcliffe Dugmore, who is also a powerful Nimrod, and he strove to continue the excellent work begun largely by our compatriot, CG Schilling; namely to record, through momentary photographs taken at night with the aid of flash lights, the major representatives among the East African fauna in all their freedom and natural surroundings and activities. The photographs reproduced by us, which depict a male lion and a lioness, show that he succeeded to produce a valuable picture trove of interesting natural history. Dugmore explained, as did Roosevelt, that lions are the most feared animals in East Africa, as both natives and whites have fallen victim to them. "The two or three officials on duty at the lonely stations of the Uganda Railway live with the ever present fear of one or other of these wild beasts, which may have taken up residence in the area; no month goes by without learning that, here or there, a person has been killed or injured, or had to flee from a marauding lion. - - Seven out of eight graves in the cemetery of Nairobi attest to the savageness of the kind of the bush-savannah, and everywhere can be found sad traces of its war path." A station near Nairobi is called Simba -that means Lion Station, as over 100 Indian workers fell victim to these beasts there, during the construction of the railway. Nevertheless, it still caused a stir in the area when, as reported by Schilling in 1897, an old male killed a European as he was slumbering between two other gentlemen one evening in a closed sleeping wagon on a neighbouring line, and it disappeared into the night with the body.

It can be said of the lion that its image in natural history is variable, yet the general view is that Felis leo has in no way the noble qualities ascribed in fantasy and poetry. Rather, its character veers between courage and cleverness to exceptional cowardice. Its bodily distinguishment, namely the impressive sight of the majestic mane of the male lion, has led to it being named the king of animals. Schilling would prefer to place the clever elephants in that role, as this rival of the cat race is wisely left in peace should it be a fully grown adult animal. One can read in v. Wissmann of a powerful African buffalo, the head of its herd, which forced a strong lion into flight. The lion is neither as persistent nor as bold as the tiger, which neither fears it nor keeps out of its way. As for its strength, a case cited by Brehm is commonly referred to, in which a lion broke into a corral (Siberia), killed a two year old calf, and roared away with its prey over a 3m high hurdle. The dean of living lion hunters, Fr. C. Selous, who accompanied Roosevelt, explains that this is actually highly improbable. The tiger is generally just as strong as the lion and, from fights in Menagria, it has been seen to win on a number of occasions.

Lions mostly spend the daytime hidden and first begin to hunt as night falls. As long as it is not plagued with hunger, wounded or otherwise impaired, it would rarely attack people during the day; should it, however, have once tasted human flesh, then it is supposed to prefer this to any other sort. Schilling writes in his work, 'Der Zauber des Eleléscho': "Even though -in wild areas at least- I do not regard the lion to be as dangerous as it is often held to be, I would like to agree with the words of H Brendens, that a lion hunt, conducted on foot, must be counted as one of the most dangerous of a hunter's handiworks! This is confirmed by the experience of an authority such as Selous, who was even attacked during the night by lions in the thorn boma." In any case, strong nerves are required, under the circumstances shown in both our images, in order to photograph lions. The hide (boma) crafted by Dugmore and his companion from thorns, was built about 12m distant from a freshly killed zebra left lying on the savannah, and that was the subject for two photographic apparatus set up at different points. Roaring lions could be heard during the first two nights, but it was not until the third night that the regal 'Simba' in our first picture was recorded near the zebra. Dugmore pressed on the button of the electric circuitry, and this simultaneously ignited the magnesium powders and released the triggers of both cameras. As if by magic, the nocturnal scenery was illuminated for enough time to claim two photographs. When the darkness returned, the lion had disappeared, and all that could be heard was its growl a short distance away. At least four others raised their voices within a circumference of less than 100m, but none showed themselves as both men, with loaded rifles at the ready, replenished the magnesium by the light of a lantern, and then changed the plates and reset the triggers of the cameras. The lioness in illustration 2 was photographed in a similar manner, as she approached completely noiselessly through the grass with cat-like prowling movements, as the illustration makes appropriately clear.

Valuable biological information is contained in the work 'Aus dem Leben ostafrikanischer Säuger' by Prof. Dr. J Vosseler, who was previously in Amani (German East Africa) but is now the Curator of the Hamburg Zoological Garden. According to his contribution, the lion is only rarely a criminal: "more often than unfortunate encounters, one hears in East Africa of harmless encounters between Europeans or blacks with the lion, and it almost always takes care to get out of the way of people." For example, one day a planter in the area of Bandami found himself closely confronted with a lion as he was looking at his cotton fields in the light of one morning, as one appeared from around a corner. "The lion in this case was no less baffled by the accidental encounter than the European, who instinctively did the required thing in such circumstances, in that he conducted himself quietly until the lion decided to turn around and, as was also the case for the white man, it began moving slowly, and then ever more rapidly away in the opposite direction.

An index of more of my translations of old Kosmos articles can be found at:

Kosmos Translations Archive

A number of Mesozoic (and post-Mesozoic) location summaries can be found at Localities.