Avus, a 16-year-old male lion at the Topeka Zoo and Conservation Center, passed away due to old age in August of 2020. Then, a few months later, something strange happened to his female counterpart, Zuri: The 18-year-old lioness began growing a mane.
Topeka’s staff was stunned, wondering what had caused her new tufts of fur. “At first, Zuri started to grow a little more fur on the top of her head,” says Shanna Simpson, an animal curator at the zoo. "And then it slowly started getting thicker and thicker around her neck and chest."
