🕷️ Crawler Inspector

URL Lookup

Direct Parameter Lookup

Raw Queries and Responses

1. Shard Calculation

Query:

Response:

Calculated Shard: 84 (from laksa095)

2. Crawled Status Check

Query:

curl -X POST \
  'http://laksa084.int.ahrefs:8124/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: text/plain' \
  -H 'X-ClickHouse-Database: crawler3' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic YXBpOg==' \
  -d 'SELECT getAhrefsURLFromUnparsed(src_unparsed) AS found_url, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(download_stamp), 0) AS crawl_time, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(props_url_first_seen), 0) AS first_indexed_time, download_http_code AS http_code, src_unparsed AS src_unparsed, src_root_hash AS src_root_hash, history_drop_reason AS history_drop_reason, meta_title AS meta_title, meta_descriptions AS meta_descriptions, attrs_boilerpipe_text AS attrs_boilerpipe_text, attrs_markdown AS attrs_markdown, attrs_readable_markdown AS attrs_readable_markdown, meta_canonical AS meta_canonical, ml_categories_json AS ml_categories_json, ml_types_json AS ml_types_json, ml_intent_types_json AS ml_intent_types_json, meta_language AS meta_language, attrs_author AS attrs_author, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(attrs_publish_time), 0) AS attrs_publish_time, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(attrs_original_publish_time), 0) AS attrs_original_publish_time, ifNull(attrs_is_republished, 0) AS attrs_is_republished, ifNull(attrs_nr_words, 0) AS attrs_nr_words, ifNull(attrs_boilerpipe_nr_words, 0) AS attrs_boilerpipe_nr_words, ifNull(body_ext_links_number, 0) AS body_ext_links_number, ifNull(body_int_links_number, 0) AS body_int_links_number, ifNull(meta_nofollow, 0) AS meta_nofollow, ifNull(meta_noarchive, 0) AS meta_noarchive, ifNull(props_was_rendered, 0) AS props_was_rendered, ifNull(src_redirect, \'\') AS src_redirect, ifNull(download_time_msec, 0) AS download_time_msec, ifNull(download_ttfb_msec, 0) AS download_ttfb_msec, ifNull(download_size, 0) AS download_size FROM crawler3.page_info_local FINAL PREWHERE (src_root_hash, src_unparsed) IN ((getAhrefsRootHashFromUnparsed(getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/20/world/africa/lions-covid-south-african-zoo.html\')), getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/20/world/africa/lions-covid-south-african-zoo.html\'))) FORMAT JSONEachRow'

Response:

{"found_url":"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/01\/20\/world\/africa\/lions-covid-south-african-zoo.html","crawl_time":1777046086,"first_indexed_time":1642911144,"http_code":200,"src_unparsed":"com,nytimes!www,\/2022\/01\/20\/world\/africa\/lions-covid-south-african-zoo.html s443","src_root_hash":"4566504020376537684","history_drop_reason":null,"meta_title":"Lions Infected With Covid Spur Concern Over Virus Spread In the Wild - The New York Times","meta_descriptions":["The lions caught the coronavirus from their handlers and showed severe symptoms. An outbreak among big cats in nature preserves could be hard to contain, researchers said."],"attrs_boilerpipe_text":"Advertisement\nSKIP ADVERTISEMENT\nThe lions caught the coronavirus from their handlers and showed severe symptoms. An outbreak among big cats in nature preserves could be hard to contain, researchers said.\nMembers of the veterinary team of University of Pretoria taking samples from a lion that contracted the coronavirus from its handlers at a zoo in Johannesburg.\nCredit...\nMarietjie Venter\nPublished Jan. 20, 2022\nUpdated Jan. 22, 2022\nJOHANNESBURG — Lions at a South African zoo that caught the\ncoronavirus\nfrom their handlers were sick for more than three weeks and continued to test positive for up to seven weeks, according to a new study that raised concerns about the virus spreading among animals in the wild.\nIt is not clear how much virus the lions were carrying or whether they were actively infectious for the whole period that they tested positive. But prolonged periods of infection in big cats would raise the risk that an outbreak in the wild might spread more widely and infect other species, researchers said. That might eventually make the virus endemic among wild animals, and in a worst case, give rise to new variants that could jump back to humans.\nThe study at the University of Pretoria\nis likely the first of its kind in Africa. Researchers began to monitor captive wildlife in zoos and conservation sanctuaries after a tiger at the Bronx zoo\ngot sick\nwith the coronavirus in April 2020, according to Professor Marietjie Venter, the principal investigator on the study.\nThe research team monitored two pumas that contracted the coronavirus at a private zoo in July 2020, during South Africa’s first pandemic wave. The pumas, which are not native to South Africa, started showing symptoms, including loss of appetite, diarrhea, runny noses and persistent coughs. Both cats made a full recovery after 23 days.\nAbout a year later at the same zoo, three lions began to show similar symptoms. One of the lions, an older female, developed pneumonia. The lion’s handler and an engineer at the zoo also tested positive for the virus.\nWant to stay updated on what’s happening in South Africa?\n, and we’ll send our latest coverage to your inbox.\nThis time, researchers were able to sequence the samples and found that the lions and their handler were infected with the same Delta variant. The illness developed by the lions, particularly in the older female, showed that animals, like people, could develop severe symptoms from Delta, which drove South Africa’s deadliest pandemic wave.\nThe lions recovered after 25 days, but had positive P.C.R. tests for more than three additional weeks. P.C.R. tests amplify the virus’s genetic material and therefore can detect even very small amounts. The data suggested that the amount of virus the lions were carrying decreased over those weeks, and it was not clear precisely how long they were infectious.\nIn a captive environment, the animals were kept in quarantine, but in larger parks dotted around South Africa, where lions are a common public attraction, controlling an outbreak could prove “very, very difficult,” the study said, particularly if it were undetected. These lions are often fed by humans rather than hunting for themselves, increasing their exposure.\n“If you don’t know that it’s Covid, there’s a risk that it can then spread to other animals and then potentially back to humans,” said Dr. Venter, a professor of medical virology, who teamed up with a wildlife veterinary scientist for this study. The animals were infected long enough “that the virus can actually undergo mutations,” she said, “but the risk is more that if you’re in a wildlife reserve and it spreads into the wild it can then become endemic.”\nThe coronavirus driving the global pandemic likely originated in bats and eventually jumped to humans, in what is known as “spillover” infections.\nScientists warn that “spillback” infections of humans infecting animals — as have occurred with mink, deer and domestic cats — could ravage whole ecosystems in the wild. Infections that reached the wild could also expand the virus’s potential to spread unchecked and mutate in animals, potentially into variants dangerous to humans.\nOne well-studied phenomenon involves\ninfections among large populations of captive mink\n. At one mink farm in Denmark, the virus mutated into a new strain during the switch from human to mink, prompting the mass slaughter of the animals throughout that country and Europe to prevent its spread back to humans.\nBy contrast, the South African study involved small outbreaks, but Dr. Venter noted that the spread in mink shows the potential danger of larger outbreaks in wildlife.\nRelated Content\nMore in Africa\nMiguela Xuereb\/Newsbook Malta, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images\nDaniel Beloumou Olomo\/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images\nImage by Joao Silva\/The New York Times\nImage by Patrick Meinhardt\/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images\nEditors’ Picks\nIllustration by Tomi Um\nTrending in The Times\nAlexandre Meneghini\/Reuters\nMikayla Whitmore for The New York Times\nLinda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini.\nvia PEM; Photo by Alex Pau\nPascal Le Segretain\/Getty Images\nImage by Pool photo by Jason Henry\nAlberto Pizzoli\/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images\nSara Cline\/Associated Press\nEric Lee for The New York Times\nIllustration by Giacomo Gambineri\nAdvertisement\nSKIP ADVERTISEMENT","attrs_markdown":"[Skip to content](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/01\/20\/world\/africa\/lions-covid-south-african-zoo.html#site-content)[Skip to site index](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/01\/20\/world\/africa\/lions-covid-south-african-zoo.html#site-index)\n\nSearch & Section Navigation\n\nSection Navigation\n\nSearch\n\n[Africa](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/world\/africa)\n\n[Log in](https:\/\/myaccount.nytimes.com\/auth\/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2Fsubscription%2Fonboarding-offer%3FcampaignId%3D7JFJX%26EXIT_URI%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.nytimes.com%252F2022%252F01%252F20%252Fworld%252Fafrica%252Flions-covid-south-african-zoo.html&asset=masthead)\n\nFriday, April 24, 2026\n\n[Today’s Paper](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/todayspaper)\n\n[Africa](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/world\/africa)\\|A South African study of infected zoo lions spurs worries about the virus spreading in the wild.\n\nhttps:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/01\/20\/world\/africa\/lions-covid-south-african-zoo.html\n\n- Share full article\n\nAdvertisement\n\n[SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/01\/20\/world\/africa\/lions-covid-south-african-zoo.html#after-top)\n\nSupported by\n\n[SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/01\/20\/world\/africa\/lions-covid-south-african-zoo.html#after-sponsor)\n# A South African study of infected zoo lions spurs worries about the virus spreading in the wild.\nThe lions caught the coronavirus from their handlers and showed severe symptoms. An outbreak among big cats in nature preserves could be hard to contain, researchers said.\n\n- Share full article\n\n![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2022\/01\/20\/lens\/20virus-briefing-south-africa-lions-02\/20virus-briefing-south-africa-lions-02-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n\nMembers of the veterinary team of University of Pretoria taking samples from a lion that contracted the coronavirus from its handlers at a zoo in Johannesburg.Credit...Marietjie Venter\n\nBy Lynsey Chutel\n\nPublished Jan. 20, 2022Updated Jan. 22, 2022\n\n[See more of our coverage in your search results.Encuentra más de nuestra cobertura en los resultados de búsqueda. Add The New York Times on GoogleAgrega The New York Times en Google](https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?cs=0&hl=en&q=nytimes.com)\n\nJOHANNESBURG — Lions at a South African zoo that caught the [coronavirus](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/news-event\/coronavirus) from their handlers were sick for more than three weeks and continued to test positive for up to seven weeks, according to a new study that raised concerns about the virus spreading among animals in the wild.\n\nIt is not clear how much virus the lions were carrying or whether they were actively infectious for the whole period that they tested positive. But prolonged periods of infection in big cats would raise the risk that an outbreak in the wild might spread more widely and infect other species, researchers said. That might eventually make the virus endemic among wild animals, and in a worst case, give rise to new variants that could jump back to humans.\n\n[The study at the University of Pretoria](https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1999-4915\/14\/1\/120) is likely the first of its kind in Africa. Researchers began to monitor captive wildlife in zoos and conservation sanctuaries after a tiger at the Bronx zoo [got sick](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/04\/06\/science\/tiger-cats-coronavirus.html) with the coronavirus in April 2020, according to Professor Marietjie Venter, the principal investigator on the study.\n\nThe research team monitored two pumas that contracted the coronavirus at a private zoo in July 2020, during South Africa’s first pandemic wave. The pumas, which are not native to South Africa, started showing symptoms, including loss of appetite, diarrhea, runny noses and persistent coughs. Both cats made a full recovery after 23 days.\n\nAbout a year later at the same zoo, three lions began to show similar symptoms. One of the lions, an older female, developed pneumonia. The lion’s handler and an engineer at the zoo also tested positive for the virus.\n\n**Want to stay updated on what’s happening in South Africa?**\n\nSign up for Your Places: Global Update\n\n, and we’ll send our latest coverage to your inbox.\n\nThis time, researchers were able to sequence the samples and found that the lions and their handler were infected with the same Delta variant. The illness developed by the lions, particularly in the older female, showed that animals, like people, could develop severe symptoms from Delta, which drove South Africa’s deadliest pandemic wave.\n\n[South Africa Coronavirus Cases](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2021\/world\/south-africa-covid-cases.html)\n\n[New reported cases by day All time Last 90 days Apr. 2020 Oct. Apr. 2021 Oct. Apr. 2022 Oct. 10,000 20,000 cases 7-day average 373](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2021\/world\/south-africa-covid-cases.html)\n\nSource: Data for South Africa comes from the [Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University](https:\/\/github.com\/CSSEGISandData\/COVID-19). Population data from the World Bank. The daily average is calculated with data that was reported in the last seven days.\n\nThe lions recovered after 25 days, but had positive P.C.R. tests for more than three additional weeks. P.C.R. tests amplify the virus’s genetic material and therefore can detect even very small amounts. The data suggested that the amount of virus the lions were carrying decreased over those weeks, and it was not clear precisely how long they were infectious.\n\nIn a captive environment, the animals were kept in quarantine, but in larger parks dotted around South Africa, where lions are a common public attraction, controlling an outbreak could prove “very, very difficult,” the study said, particularly if it were undetected. These lions are often fed by humans rather than hunting for themselves, increasing their exposure.\n\n“If you don’t know that it’s Covid, there’s a risk that it can then spread to other animals and then potentially back to humans,” said Dr. Venter, a professor of medical virology, who teamed up with a wildlife veterinary scientist for this study. The animals were infected long enough “that the virus can actually undergo mutations,” she said, “but the risk is more that if you’re in a wildlife reserve and it spreads into the wild it can then become endemic.”\n\nThe coronavirus driving the global pandemic likely originated in bats and eventually jumped to humans, in what is known as “spillover” infections.\n\nScientists warn that “spillback” infections of humans infecting animals — as have occurred with mink, deer and domestic cats — could ravage whole ecosystems in the wild. Infections that reached the wild could also expand the virus’s potential to spread unchecked and mutate in animals, potentially into variants dangerous to humans.\n\nOne well-studied phenomenon involves [infections among large populations of captive mink](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/01\/19\/magazine\/spillback-animal-disease.html). At one mink farm in Denmark, the virus mutated into a new strain during the switch from human to mink, prompting the mass slaughter of the animals throughout that country and Europe to prevent its spread back to humans.\n\nBy contrast, the South African study involved small outbreaks, but Dr. Venter noted that the spread in mink shows the potential danger of larger outbreaks in wildlife.\n\n## Editors’ Picks\n[![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/04\/29\/multimedia\/23FD-APPETITE-highlandershortbread-1-klgf\/23FD-APPETITE-highlandershortbread-1-klgf-thumbLarge.jpg)A Four-Ingredient Cookie That’s Tender and Crunchy](https:\/\/cooking.nytimes.com\/article\/four-ingredient-cookie-shortbread)\n\n[![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/04\/22\/multimedia\/22re-designfinds-zames-05-qwcv\/22re-designfinds-zames-05-qwcv-thumbLarge.jpg)A Modern Living Room With Reminders of the Past](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/04\/22\/realestate\/sarah-zames-living-room-design-details.html)\n\n[![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/04\/23\/well\/23Well-ATT-Twins\/23Well-ATT-Twins-thumbLarge-v2.jpg)My Adult Twins Fight Constantly. How Do I Stay Out of It?](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/04\/23\/well\/mind\/sibling-twin-fights.html)\n\nAdvertisement\n\n[SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/01\/20\/world\/africa\/lions-covid-south-african-zoo.html#after-pp_edpick)\n\n- Share full article\n\n***\n## Around the World With The Times\n### Our reporters across the globe take you into the field.\n***\n- **Hope in Nepal****:** Many youth-led protests around the world have failed to bring meaningful change. But in Nepal, [a new government is promising to do things differently](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/04\/19\/world\/asia\/nepal-elections-gen-z-balen-shah.html). Here’s how other [Gen Z protests have fared around the world](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/04\/19\/world\/asia\/gen-z-protests-success-fail-nepal-morocco-bangladesh.html).\n- **Saving Germany’s Favorite Whale****:** A month of efforts to help a stranded humpback named Timmy escape the Baltic Sea [have culminated in a tourist and media spectacle](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/04\/17\/world\/europe\/timmy-whale-stranded-rescue-germany.html), with no guarantee of success.\n- **Shakespeare’s London Property****:** In confirming the precise location of William Shakespeare’s Blackfriars house, a British scholar has [raised](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/04\/15\/world\/europe\/shakespeare-london-property-house.html) [fresh questions about what he intended to do with it](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/04\/15\/world\/europe\/shakespeare-london-property-house.html).\n- **The Global Profile:** Oleksiy Klochkovsky has [driven mail and parcels around the front line in Ukraine](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/04\/15\/world\/europe\/ukraine-russia-war-kharkiv-nova-poshta.html) for four years. He keeps one ear tuned for danger from above.\n\n## Related Content\n### [More in Africa](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/world\/africa)\n- [Rescue Effort for Russian Tanker Fails, in a New Era of Maritime Peril](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/04\/23\/world\/europe\/russian-tanker-mediterranean.html)\n  \n  ![The Arctic Metagaz, a Russian tanker, was adrift between Malta and Lampedusa, Italy, last month.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/04\/23\/multimedia\/23int-Libya-Ship-gckl\/23int-Libya-Ship-gckl-square640-v2.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Miguela Xuereb\/Newsbook Malta, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images\n- [Catholicism Thrives in Africa, but Pope’s Cameroon Visit Highlights a Divide](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/04\/15\/world\/africa\/pope-leo-cameroon-africa.html)\n  \n  ![Pope Leo arriving in Cameroon’s capital, Yaoundé, on Tuesday.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/04\/15\/multimedia\/15int-pope-cameroon-top1-qgvz\/15int-pope-cameroon-top1-qgvz-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Daniel Beloumou Olomo\/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images\n- [‘I Would Rather Be a Dwarf’: A Comic in Botswana Prizes His Difference](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/04\/17\/world\/africa\/botswana-dwarfism-johnson-masase.html)\n  \n  ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/04\/08\/world\/00int-botswana-dwarf-profile-coevrslide-2-3\/00int-botswana-dwarf-profile-coevrslide-2-3-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Image by Joao Silva\/The New York Times\n- [Pope Says News Outlets Misread Some of His Remarks as Criticism of Trump](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/04\/18\/world\/africa\/pope-news-media-trump-africa.html)\n  \n  ![El papa León XIV en Yaundé, capital de Camerún, el sábado.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/04\/18\/espanol\/18int-pope-1-qcgf-ES-copy1\/18int-pope-1-qcgf-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Image by Patrick Meinhardt\/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images\n\n### Editors’ Picks\n- [How Cultured Are You? Take Our Quiz.](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2026\/04\/17\/t-magazine\/art-film-music-books-culture-fashion-quiz.html)\n  \n  ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/04\/17\/t-magazine\/17tmag-promoimages-slide-81M8\/17tmag-promoimages-slide-81M8-square640-v2.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n- [I Had an Affair With My Friend’s Wife. Should I Tell Him?](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/04\/22\/magazine\/affair-friends-wife-ethics.html)\n  \n  ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/04\/26\/magazine\/26mag-ethicist-onlineonly\/26mag-ethicist-onlineonly-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Illustration by Tomi Um\n\n### Trending in The Times\n- [U.S. Sends Plane to Cuba to Get Child in Transgender Custody Case](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/04\/21\/world\/americas\/cuba-us-child-justice-department-transgender.html)\n  \n  ![A flight tracker showed that a U.S. government plane landed at the Jose Marti International Airport in Havana. It appeared to be part of an F.B.I. mission to retrieve an American child. ](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/05\/21\/multimedia\/21cuba-parents-mwvz\/21cuba-parents-mwvz-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Alexandre Meneghini\/Reuters\n- [You Paid to Have Old Clothes Recycled. Here’s What That Really Means.](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/04\/22\/climate\/clothing-recycling-trashie-helpsy.html)\n  \n  ![A sorting facility for Supercircle in North Las Vegas this month. The start-up aims to help the fashion industry use discarded textiles to make new clothes.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/04\/15\/multimedia\/00CLI-CLOTHES-RECYCLING-01-lmhz\/00CLI-CLOTHES-RECYCLING-01-lmhz-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Mikayla Whitmore for The New York Times\n- [These Are the Very Best Scrambled Eggs](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/04\/21\/dining\/these-are-the-very-best-scrambled-eggs.html)\n  \n  ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2021\/02\/24\/dining\/19Kenjirex-copy-nl\/19Kenjirex-square640-v2.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini.\n- [Smithsonian American Art Museum Names a New Director](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/04\/21\/arts\/design\/smithsonian-director-lynda-roscoe-hartigan.html)\n  \n  ![Lynda Roscoe Hartigan is the executive director and chief executive of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/04\/23\/multimedia\/21cul-smithsonian-mtwq\/21cul-smithsonian-mtwq-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  via PEM; Photo by Alex Pau\n- [D4vd Charged With Murder of Girl Whose Remains Were Found in His Car](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/04\/20\/arts\/music\/d4vd-murder-charges-celeste-rivas-hernandez.html)\n  \n  ![The singer D4vd, 21, created the anthem for Fortnite. The severely decomposed remains of Celeste Rivas Hernandez were discovered in his car’s trunk in September.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/04\/20\/multimedia\/20cul-d4vd-charges-khcv\/20cul-d4vd-charges-khcv-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Pascal Le Segretain\/Getty Images\n- [Candidates for California Governor Debate: 5 Takeaways](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/04\/23\/us\/politics\/california-governor-debate-takeaways.html)\n  \n  ![Candidates in California’s race for governor (from left): Matt Mahan, Xavier Becerra, Chad Bianco, Steve Hilton, Tom Steyer and Katie Porter.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/04\/23\/multimedia\/23california-govenor-debate-wbgl-copy\/23california-govenor-debate-wbgl-copy-square640-v2.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Image by Pool photo by Jason Henry\n- [‘God Will Never Abandon You,’ Pope Tells Prisoners in Equatorial Guinea](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/video\/world\/africa\/100000010858713\/pope-leo-prison-africa-equatorial-guinea.html)\n  \n  ![Inmates welcoming Pope Leo XIV in Bata, Equatorial Guinea, on Wednesday. ](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/04\/22\/multimedia\/22int-pope-prison-2-qmkg\/22int-pope-prison-2-qmkg-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Alberto Pizzoli\/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images\n- [6 Shot in Mall Shooting in Louisiana](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/video\/us\/100000010860352\/louisiana-mall-shooting.html)\n  \n  ![Officers from several law enforcement agencies responded to reports of a shooting at the Mall of Louisiana in Baton Rouge, La. on Thursday.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/04\/23\/multimedia\/23xp-louisiana-tbjh\/23xp-louisiana-tbjh-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Sara Cline\/Associated Press\n- [Trump Announces Cease-Fire Between Israel and Lebanon](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/video\/world\/middleeast\/100000010860715\/trump-ceasefire-israel-lebanon-hezbollah.html)\n  \n  ![The cease-fire, which was scheduled to end on April 26, would last until May 17 if it takes effect as President Donald Trump described it.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/04\/23\/multimedia\/23dc-diplo-mideast\/23met-doe-palestinian-qzhp-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Eric Lee for The New York Times\n- [How Well Will You Age? Take Our Quiz.](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2026\/04\/22\/magazine\/longevity-health-quiz-nutrition-sleep-exercise-aging.html)\n  \n  ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/04\/22\/23mag-longevity-quiz-75567\/23mag-longevity-quiz-75567-square640-v2.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Illustration by Giacomo Gambineri\n\nAdvertisement\n\n[SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/01\/20\/world\/africa\/lions-covid-south-african-zoo.html#after-bottom)\n\n## Site Index\n[Go to Home Page »](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/)\n\nNews\n\n- [Home Page](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/)\n- [U.S.](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/us)\n- [World](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/world)\n- [Politics](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/politics)\n- [New York](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/nyregion)\n- [Education](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/education)\n- [Sports](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/sports)\n- 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Navigation\n- [© 2026 The New York Times Company](https:\/\/help.nytimes.com\/hc\/en-us\/articles\/115014792127-Copyright-Notice)\n\n- [NYTCo](https:\/\/www.nytco.com\/)\n- [Contact Us](https:\/\/help.nytimes.com\/hc\/en-us\/articles\/115015385887-Contact-The-New-York-Times)\n- [Accessibility](https:\/\/help.nytimes.com\/hc\/en-us\/articles\/115015727108-Accessibility)\n- [Work with us](https:\/\/www.nytco.com\/careers\/)\n- [Advertise](https:\/\/advertising.nytimes.com\/)\n- [T Brand Studio](https:\/\/advertising.nytimes.com\/custom-content\/)\n- [Privacy Policy](https:\/\/help.nytimes.com\/hc\/en-us\/articles\/10940941449492-The-New-York-Times-Company-Privacy-Policy)\n- [Cookie Policy](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/privacy\/cookie-policy)\n- [Terms of Service](https:\/\/help.nytimes.com\/hc\/en-us\/articles\/115014893428-Terms-of-Service)\n- [Terms of Sale](https:\/\/help.nytimes.com\/hc\/en-us\/articles\/115014893968-Terms-of-Sale)\n- [Site Map](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/sitemap\/)\n- 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An outbreak among big cats in nature preserves could be hard to contain, researchers said.\n\n![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2022\/01\/20\/lens\/20virus-briefing-south-africa-lions-02\/20virus-briefing-south-africa-lions-02-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n\nMembers of the veterinary team of University of Pretoria taking samples from a lion that contracted the coronavirus from its handlers at a zoo in Johannesburg.Credit...Marietjie Venter\n\nPublished Jan. 20, 2022Updated Jan. 22, 2022\n\nJOHANNESBURG — Lions at a South African zoo that caught the [coronavirus](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/news-event\/coronavirus) from their handlers were sick for more than three weeks and continued to test positive for up to seven weeks, according to a new study that raised concerns about the virus spreading among animals in the wild.\n\nIt is not clear how much virus the lions were carrying or whether they were actively infectious for the whole period that they tested positive. But prolonged periods of infection in big cats would raise the risk that an outbreak in the wild might spread more widely and infect other species, researchers said. That might eventually make the virus endemic among wild animals, and in a worst case, give rise to new variants that could jump back to humans.\n\n[The study at the University of Pretoria](https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1999-4915\/14\/1\/120) is likely the first of its kind in Africa. Researchers began to monitor captive wildlife in zoos and conservation sanctuaries after a tiger at the Bronx zoo [got sick](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/04\/06\/science\/tiger-cats-coronavirus.html) with the coronavirus in April 2020, according to Professor Marietjie Venter, the principal investigator on the study.\n\nThe research team monitored two pumas that contracted the coronavirus at a private zoo in July 2020, during South Africa’s first pandemic wave. The pumas, which are not native to South Africa, started showing symptoms, including loss of appetite, diarrhea, runny noses and persistent coughs. Both cats made a full recovery after 23 days.\n\nAbout a year later at the same zoo, three lions began to show similar symptoms. One of the lions, an older female, developed pneumonia. The lion’s handler and an engineer at the zoo also tested positive for the virus.\n\n**Want to stay updated on what’s happening in South Africa?** , and we’ll send our latest coverage to your inbox.\n\nThis time, researchers were able to sequence the samples and found that the lions and their handler were infected with the same Delta variant. The illness developed by the lions, particularly in the older female, showed that animals, like people, could develop severe symptoms from Delta, which drove South Africa’s deadliest pandemic wave.\n\nThe lions recovered after 25 days, but had positive P.C.R. tests for more than three additional weeks. P.C.R. tests amplify the virus’s genetic material and therefore can detect even very small amounts. The data suggested that the amount of virus the lions were carrying decreased over those weeks, and it was not clear precisely how long they were infectious.\n\nIn a captive environment, the animals were kept in quarantine, but in larger parks dotted around South Africa, where lions are a common public attraction, controlling an outbreak could prove “very, very difficult,” the study said, particularly if it were undetected. These lions are often fed by humans rather than hunting for themselves, increasing their exposure.\n\n“If you don’t know that it’s Covid, there’s a risk that it can then spread to other animals and then potentially back to humans,” said Dr. Venter, a professor of medical virology, who teamed up with a wildlife veterinary scientist for this study. The animals were infected long enough “that the virus can actually undergo mutations,” she said, “but the risk is more that if you’re in a wildlife reserve and it spreads into the wild it can then become endemic.”\n\nThe coronavirus driving the global pandemic likely originated in bats and eventually jumped to humans, in what is known as “spillover” infections.\n\nScientists warn that “spillback” infections of humans infecting animals — as have occurred with mink, deer and domestic cats — could ravage whole ecosystems in the wild. Infections that reached the wild could also expand the virus’s potential to spread unchecked and mutate in animals, potentially into variants dangerous to humans.\n\nOne well-studied phenomenon involves [infections among large populations of captive mink](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/01\/19\/magazine\/spillback-animal-disease.html). At one mink farm in Denmark, the virus mutated into a new strain during the switch from human to mink, prompting the mass slaughter of the animals throughout that country and Europe to prevent its spread back to humans.\n\nBy contrast, the South African study involved small outbreaks, but Dr. Venter noted that the spread in mink shows the potential danger of larger outbreaks in wildlife.\n\n## Related Content\n[More in Africa](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/world\/africa)\n\n- ![The Arctic Metagaz, a Russian tanker, was adrift between Malta and Lampedusa, Italy, last month.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/04\/23\/multimedia\/23int-Libya-Ship-gckl\/23int-Libya-Ship-gckl-square640-v2.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Miguela Xuereb\/Newsbook Malta, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images\n- ![Pope Leo arriving in Cameroon’s capital, Yaoundé, on Tuesday.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/04\/15\/multimedia\/15int-pope-cameroon-top1-qgvz\/15int-pope-cameroon-top1-qgvz-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Daniel Beloumou Olomo\/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images\n- ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/04\/08\/world\/00int-botswana-dwarf-profile-coevrslide-2-3\/00int-botswana-dwarf-profile-coevrslide-2-3-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Image by Joao Silva\/The New York Times\n- ![El papa León XIV en Yaundé, capital de Camerún, el sábado.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/04\/18\/espanol\/18int-pope-1-qcgf-ES-copy1\/18int-pope-1-qcgf-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Image by Patrick Meinhardt\/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images\n\nEditors’ Picks\n\n- ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/04\/17\/t-magazine\/17tmag-promoimages-slide-81M8\/17tmag-promoimages-slide-81M8-square640-v2.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n- ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/04\/26\/magazine\/26mag-ethicist-onlineonly\/26mag-ethicist-onlineonly-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Illustration by Tomi Um\n\nTrending in The Times\n\n- ![A flight tracker showed that a U.S. government plane landed at the Jose Marti International Airport in Havana. It appeared to be part of an F.B.I. mission to retrieve an American child. ](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/05\/21\/multimedia\/21cuba-parents-mwvz\/21cuba-parents-mwvz-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Alexandre Meneghini\/Reuters\n- ![A sorting facility for Supercircle in North Las Vegas this month. The start-up aims to help the fashion industry use discarded textiles to make new clothes.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/04\/15\/multimedia\/00CLI-CLOTHES-RECYCLING-01-lmhz\/00CLI-CLOTHES-RECYCLING-01-lmhz-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Mikayla Whitmore for The New York Times\n- ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2021\/02\/24\/dining\/19Kenjirex-copy-nl\/19Kenjirex-square640-v2.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini.\n- ![Lynda Roscoe Hartigan is the executive director and chief executive of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/04\/23\/multimedia\/21cul-smithsonian-mtwq\/21cul-smithsonian-mtwq-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  via PEM; Photo by Alex Pau\n- ![The singer D4vd, 21, created the anthem for Fortnite. The severely decomposed remains of Celeste Rivas Hernandez were discovered in his car’s trunk in September.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/04\/20\/multimedia\/20cul-d4vd-charges-khcv\/20cul-d4vd-charges-khcv-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Pascal Le Segretain\/Getty Images\n- ![Candidates in California’s race for governor (from left): Matt Mahan, Xavier Becerra, Chad Bianco, Steve Hilton, Tom Steyer and Katie Porter.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/04\/23\/multimedia\/23california-govenor-debate-wbgl-copy\/23california-govenor-debate-wbgl-copy-square640-v2.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Image by Pool photo by Jason Henry\n- ![Inmates welcoming Pope Leo XIV in Bata, Equatorial Guinea, on Wednesday. ](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/04\/22\/multimedia\/22int-pope-prison-2-qmkg\/22int-pope-prison-2-qmkg-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Alberto Pizzoli\/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images\n- ![Officers from several law enforcement agencies responded to reports of a shooting at the Mall of Louisiana in Baton Rouge, La. on Thursday.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/04\/23\/multimedia\/23xp-louisiana-tbjh\/23xp-louisiana-tbjh-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Sara Cline\/Associated Press\n- ![The cease-fire, which was scheduled to end on April 26, would last until May 17 if it takes effect as President Donald Trump described it.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/04\/23\/multimedia\/23dc-diplo-mideast\/23met-doe-palestinian-qzhp-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Eric Lee for The New York Times\n- ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/04\/22\/23mag-longevity-quiz-75567\/23mag-longevity-quiz-75567-square640-v2.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Illustration by Giacomo Gambineri\n\nAdvertisement\n\n[SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/01\/20\/world\/africa\/lions-covid-south-african-zoo.html#after-bottom)","meta_canonical":null,"ml_categories_json":"{\"\/Science\":783,\"\/Science\/Biological_Sciences\":764,\"\/Science\/Biological_Sciences\/Other\":576,\"\/Health\":205,\"\/News\":196,\"\/Health\/Public_Health\":188,\"\/News\/Health_News\":185}","ml_types_json":"{\"\/Article\":999,\"\/Article\/News_Update\":703}","ml_intent_types_json":"{\"Informational\":999}","meta_language":"en","attrs_author":"Lynsey Chutel","attrs_publish_time":1642710215,"attrs_original_publish_time":1642710215,"attrs_is_republished":0,"attrs_nr_words":"1662","attrs_boilerpipe_nr_words":"867","body_ext_links_number":11,"body_int_links_number":124,"meta_nofollow":0,"meta_noarchive":1,"props_was_rendered":1,"src_redirect":"","download_time_msec":699,"download_ttfb_msec":662,"download_size":191160}

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Lions Infected With Covid Spur Concern Over Virus Spread In the Wild - The New York Times

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The lions caught the coronavirus from their handlers and showed severe symptoms. An outbreak among big cats in nature preserves could be hard to contain, researchers said.

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Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT The lions caught the coronavirus from their handlers and showed severe symptoms. An outbreak among big cats in nature preserves could be hard to contain, researchers said. Members of the veterinary team of University of Pretoria taking samples from a lion that contracted the coronavirus from its handlers at a zoo in Johannesburg. Credit... Marietjie Venter Published Jan. 20, 2022 Updated Jan. 22, 2022 JOHANNESBURG — Lions at a South African zoo that caught the coronavirus from their handlers were sick for more than three weeks and continued to test positive for up to seven weeks, according to a new study that raised concerns about the virus spreading among animals in the wild. It is not clear how much virus the lions were carrying or whether they were actively infectious for the whole period that they tested positive. But prolonged periods of infection in big cats would raise the risk that an outbreak in the wild might spread more widely and infect other species, researchers said. That might eventually make the virus endemic among wild animals, and in a worst case, give rise to new variants that could jump back to humans. The study at the University of Pretoria is likely the first of its kind in Africa. Researchers began to monitor captive wildlife in zoos and conservation sanctuaries after a tiger at the Bronx zoo got sick with the coronavirus in April 2020, according to Professor Marietjie Venter, the principal investigator on the study. The research team monitored two pumas that contracted the coronavirus at a private zoo in July 2020, during South Africa’s first pandemic wave. The pumas, which are not native to South Africa, started showing symptoms, including loss of appetite, diarrhea, runny noses and persistent coughs. Both cats made a full recovery after 23 days. About a year later at the same zoo, three lions began to show similar symptoms. One of the lions, an older female, developed pneumonia. The lion’s handler and an engineer at the zoo also tested positive for the virus. Want to stay updated on what’s happening in South Africa? , and we’ll send our latest coverage to your inbox. This time, researchers were able to sequence the samples and found that the lions and their handler were infected with the same Delta variant. The illness developed by the lions, particularly in the older female, showed that animals, like people, could develop severe symptoms from Delta, which drove South Africa’s deadliest pandemic wave. The lions recovered after 25 days, but had positive P.C.R. tests for more than three additional weeks. P.C.R. tests amplify the virus’s genetic material and therefore can detect even very small amounts. The data suggested that the amount of virus the lions were carrying decreased over those weeks, and it was not clear precisely how long they were infectious. In a captive environment, the animals were kept in quarantine, but in larger parks dotted around South Africa, where lions are a common public attraction, controlling an outbreak could prove “very, very difficult,” the study said, particularly if it were undetected. These lions are often fed by humans rather than hunting for themselves, increasing their exposure. “If you don’t know that it’s Covid, there’s a risk that it can then spread to other animals and then potentially back to humans,” said Dr. Venter, a professor of medical virology, who teamed up with a wildlife veterinary scientist for this study. The animals were infected long enough “that the virus can actually undergo mutations,” she said, “but the risk is more that if you’re in a wildlife reserve and it spreads into the wild it can then become endemic.” The coronavirus driving the global pandemic likely originated in bats and eventually jumped to humans, in what is known as “spillover” infections. Scientists warn that “spillback” infections of humans infecting animals — as have occurred with mink, deer and domestic cats — could ravage whole ecosystems in the wild. Infections that reached the wild could also expand the virus’s potential to spread unchecked and mutate in animals, potentially into variants dangerous to humans. One well-studied phenomenon involves infections among large populations of captive mink . At one mink farm in Denmark, the virus mutated into a new strain during the switch from human to mink, prompting the mass slaughter of the animals throughout that country and Europe to prevent its spread back to humans. By contrast, the South African study involved small outbreaks, but Dr. Venter noted that the spread in mink shows the potential danger of larger outbreaks in wildlife. Related Content More in Africa Miguela Xuereb/Newsbook Malta, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Daniel Beloumou Olomo/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Image by Joao Silva/The New York Times Image by Patrick Meinhardt/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Editors’ Picks Illustration by Tomi Um Trending in The Times Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters Mikayla Whitmore for The New York Times Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini. via PEM; Photo by Alex Pau Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images Image by Pool photo by Jason Henry Alberto Pizzoli/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Sara Cline/Associated Press Eric Lee for The New York Times Illustration by Giacomo Gambineri Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

Markdown

[Skip to content](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/20/world/africa/lions-covid-south-african-zoo.html#site-content)[Skip to site index](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/20/world/africa/lions-covid-south-african-zoo.html#site-index) Search & Section Navigation Section Navigation Search [Africa](https://www.nytimes.com/section/world/africa) [Log in](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2Fsubscription%2Fonboarding-offer%3FcampaignId%3D7JFJX%26EXIT_URI%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.nytimes.com%252F2022%252F01%252F20%252Fworld%252Fafrica%252Flions-covid-south-african-zoo.html&asset=masthead) Friday, April 24, 2026 [Today’s Paper](https://www.nytimes.com/section/todayspaper) [Africa](https://www.nytimes.com/section/world/africa)\|A South African study of infected zoo lions spurs worries about the virus spreading in the wild. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/20/world/africa/lions-covid-south-african-zoo.html - Share full article Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/20/world/africa/lions-covid-south-african-zoo.html#after-top) Supported by [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/20/world/africa/lions-covid-south-african-zoo.html#after-sponsor) # A South African study of infected zoo lions spurs worries about the virus spreading in the wild. The lions caught the coronavirus from their handlers and showed severe symptoms. An outbreak among big cats in nature preserves could be hard to contain, researchers said. - Share full article ![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/01/20/lens/20virus-briefing-south-africa-lions-02/20virus-briefing-south-africa-lions-02-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) Members of the veterinary team of University of Pretoria taking samples from a lion that contracted the coronavirus from its handlers at a zoo in Johannesburg.Credit...Marietjie Venter By Lynsey Chutel Published Jan. 20, 2022Updated Jan. 22, 2022 [See more of our coverage in your search results.Encuentra más de nuestra cobertura en los resultados de búsqueda. Add The New York Times on GoogleAgrega The New York Times en Google](https://www.google.com/preferences/source?cs=0&hl=en&q=nytimes.com) JOHANNESBURG — Lions at a South African zoo that caught the [coronavirus](https://www.nytimes.com/news-event/coronavirus) from their handlers were sick for more than three weeks and continued to test positive for up to seven weeks, according to a new study that raised concerns about the virus spreading among animals in the wild. It is not clear how much virus the lions were carrying or whether they were actively infectious for the whole period that they tested positive. But prolonged periods of infection in big cats would raise the risk that an outbreak in the wild might spread more widely and infect other species, researchers said. That might eventually make the virus endemic among wild animals, and in a worst case, give rise to new variants that could jump back to humans. [The study at the University of Pretoria](https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/14/1/120) is likely the first of its kind in Africa. Researchers began to monitor captive wildlife in zoos and conservation sanctuaries after a tiger at the Bronx zoo [got sick](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/science/tiger-cats-coronavirus.html) with the coronavirus in April 2020, according to Professor Marietjie Venter, the principal investigator on the study. The research team monitored two pumas that contracted the coronavirus at a private zoo in July 2020, during South Africa’s first pandemic wave. The pumas, which are not native to South Africa, started showing symptoms, including loss of appetite, diarrhea, runny noses and persistent coughs. Both cats made a full recovery after 23 days. About a year later at the same zoo, three lions began to show similar symptoms. One of the lions, an older female, developed pneumonia. The lion’s handler and an engineer at the zoo also tested positive for the virus. **Want to stay updated on what’s happening in South Africa?** Sign up for Your Places: Global Update , and we’ll send our latest coverage to your inbox. This time, researchers were able to sequence the samples and found that the lions and their handler were infected with the same Delta variant. The illness developed by the lions, particularly in the older female, showed that animals, like people, could develop severe symptoms from Delta, which drove South Africa’s deadliest pandemic wave. [South Africa Coronavirus Cases](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/world/south-africa-covid-cases.html) [New reported cases by day All time Last 90 days Apr. 2020 Oct. Apr. 2021 Oct. Apr. 2022 Oct. 10,000 20,000 cases 7-day average 373](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/world/south-africa-covid-cases.html) Source: Data for South Africa comes from the [Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University](https://github.com/CSSEGISandData/COVID-19). Population data from the World Bank. The daily average is calculated with data that was reported in the last seven days. The lions recovered after 25 days, but had positive P.C.R. tests for more than three additional weeks. P.C.R. tests amplify the virus’s genetic material and therefore can detect even very small amounts. The data suggested that the amount of virus the lions were carrying decreased over those weeks, and it was not clear precisely how long they were infectious. In a captive environment, the animals were kept in quarantine, but in larger parks dotted around South Africa, where lions are a common public attraction, controlling an outbreak could prove “very, very difficult,” the study said, particularly if it were undetected. These lions are often fed by humans rather than hunting for themselves, increasing their exposure. “If you don’t know that it’s Covid, there’s a risk that it can then spread to other animals and then potentially back to humans,” said Dr. Venter, a professor of medical virology, who teamed up with a wildlife veterinary scientist for this study. The animals were infected long enough “that the virus can actually undergo mutations,” she said, “but the risk is more that if you’re in a wildlife reserve and it spreads into the wild it can then become endemic.” The coronavirus driving the global pandemic likely originated in bats and eventually jumped to humans, in what is known as “spillover” infections. Scientists warn that “spillback” infections of humans infecting animals — as have occurred with mink, deer and domestic cats — could ravage whole ecosystems in the wild. Infections that reached the wild could also expand the virus’s potential to spread unchecked and mutate in animals, potentially into variants dangerous to humans. One well-studied phenomenon involves [infections among large populations of captive mink](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/19/magazine/spillback-animal-disease.html). At one mink farm in Denmark, the virus mutated into a new strain during the switch from human to mink, prompting the mass slaughter of the animals throughout that country and Europe to prevent its spread back to humans. By contrast, the South African study involved small outbreaks, but Dr. Venter noted that the spread in mink shows the potential danger of larger outbreaks in wildlife. ## Editors’ Picks [![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/04/29/multimedia/23FD-APPETITE-highlandershortbread-1-klgf/23FD-APPETITE-highlandershortbread-1-klgf-thumbLarge.jpg)A Four-Ingredient Cookie That’s Tender and Crunchy](https://cooking.nytimes.com/article/four-ingredient-cookie-shortbread) [![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/04/22/multimedia/22re-designfinds-zames-05-qwcv/22re-designfinds-zames-05-qwcv-thumbLarge.jpg)A Modern Living Room With Reminders of the Past](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/22/realestate/sarah-zames-living-room-design-details.html) [![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/04/23/well/23Well-ATT-Twins/23Well-ATT-Twins-thumbLarge-v2.jpg)My Adult Twins Fight Constantly. How Do I Stay Out of It?](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/23/well/mind/sibling-twin-fights.html) Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/20/world/africa/lions-covid-south-african-zoo.html#after-pp_edpick) - Share full article *** ## Around the World With The Times ### Our reporters across the globe take you into the field. *** - **Hope in Nepal****:** Many youth-led protests around the world have failed to bring meaningful change. But in Nepal, [a new government is promising to do things differently](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/19/world/asia/nepal-elections-gen-z-balen-shah.html). Here’s how other [Gen Z protests have fared around the world](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/19/world/asia/gen-z-protests-success-fail-nepal-morocco-bangladesh.html). - **Saving Germany’s Favorite Whale****:** A month of efforts to help a stranded humpback named Timmy escape the Baltic Sea [have culminated in a tourist and media spectacle](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/17/world/europe/timmy-whale-stranded-rescue-germany.html), with no guarantee of success. - **Shakespeare’s London Property****:** In confirming the precise location of William Shakespeare’s Blackfriars house, a British scholar has [raised](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/15/world/europe/shakespeare-london-property-house.html) [fresh questions about what he intended to do with it](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/15/world/europe/shakespeare-london-property-house.html). - **The Global Profile:** Oleksiy Klochkovsky has [driven mail and parcels around the front line in Ukraine](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/15/world/europe/ukraine-russia-war-kharkiv-nova-poshta.html) for four years. He keeps one ear tuned for danger from above. ## Related Content ### [More in Africa](https://www.nytimes.com/section/world/africa) - [Rescue Effort for Russian Tanker Fails, in a New Era of Maritime Peril](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/23/world/europe/russian-tanker-mediterranean.html) ![The Arctic Metagaz, a Russian tanker, was adrift between Malta and Lampedusa, Italy, last month.](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/04/23/multimedia/23int-Libya-Ship-gckl/23int-Libya-Ship-gckl-square640-v2.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) Miguela Xuereb/Newsbook Malta, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images - [Catholicism Thrives in Africa, but Pope’s Cameroon Visit Highlights a Divide](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/15/world/africa/pope-leo-cameroon-africa.html) ![Pope Leo arriving in Cameroon’s capital, Yaoundé, on Tuesday.](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/04/15/multimedia/15int-pope-cameroon-top1-qgvz/15int-pope-cameroon-top1-qgvz-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) Daniel Beloumou Olomo/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images - [‘I Would Rather Be a Dwarf’: A Comic in Botswana Prizes His Difference](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/17/world/africa/botswana-dwarfism-johnson-masase.html) ![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/04/08/world/00int-botswana-dwarf-profile-coevrslide-2-3/00int-botswana-dwarf-profile-coevrslide-2-3-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) Image by Joao Silva/The New York Times - [Pope Says News Outlets Misread Some of His Remarks as Criticism of Trump](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/world/africa/pope-news-media-trump-africa.html) ![El papa León XIV en Yaundé, capital de Camerún, el sábado.](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/04/18/espanol/18int-pope-1-qcgf-ES-copy1/18int-pope-1-qcgf-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) Image by Patrick Meinhardt/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images ### Editors’ Picks - [How Cultured Are You? Take Our Quiz.](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/04/17/t-magazine/art-film-music-books-culture-fashion-quiz.html) ![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/04/17/t-magazine/17tmag-promoimages-slide-81M8/17tmag-promoimages-slide-81M8-square640-v2.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) - [I Had an Affair With My Friend’s Wife. Should I Tell Him?](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/22/magazine/affair-friends-wife-ethics.html) ![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/04/26/magazine/26mag-ethicist-onlineonly/26mag-ethicist-onlineonly-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) Illustration by Tomi Um ### Trending in The Times - [U.S. Sends Plane to Cuba to Get Child in Transgender Custody Case](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/21/world/americas/cuba-us-child-justice-department-transgender.html) ![A flight tracker showed that a U.S. government plane landed at the Jose Marti International Airport in Havana. It appeared to be part of an F.B.I. mission to retrieve an American child. ](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/05/21/multimedia/21cuba-parents-mwvz/21cuba-parents-mwvz-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350) Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters - [You Paid to Have Old Clothes Recycled. Here’s What That Really Means.](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/22/climate/clothing-recycling-trashie-helpsy.html) ![A sorting facility for Supercircle in North Las Vegas this month. The start-up aims to help the fashion industry use discarded textiles to make new clothes.](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/04/15/multimedia/00CLI-CLOTHES-RECYCLING-01-lmhz/00CLI-CLOTHES-RECYCLING-01-lmhz-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350) Mikayla Whitmore for The New York Times - [These Are the Very Best Scrambled Eggs](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/21/dining/these-are-the-very-best-scrambled-eggs.html) ![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/02/24/dining/19Kenjirex-copy-nl/19Kenjirex-square640-v2.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350) Linda Xiao for The New York Times. 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Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/20/world/africa/lions-covid-south-african-zoo.html#after-top) The lions caught the coronavirus from their handlers and showed severe symptoms. An outbreak among big cats in nature preserves could be hard to contain, researchers said. ![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/01/20/lens/20virus-briefing-south-africa-lions-02/20virus-briefing-south-africa-lions-02-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) Members of the veterinary team of University of Pretoria taking samples from a lion that contracted the coronavirus from its handlers at a zoo in Johannesburg.Credit...Marietjie Venter Published Jan. 20, 2022Updated Jan. 22, 2022 JOHANNESBURG — Lions at a South African zoo that caught the [coronavirus](https://www.nytimes.com/news-event/coronavirus) from their handlers were sick for more than three weeks and continued to test positive for up to seven weeks, according to a new study that raised concerns about the virus spreading among animals in the wild. It is not clear how much virus the lions were carrying or whether they were actively infectious for the whole period that they tested positive. But prolonged periods of infection in big cats would raise the risk that an outbreak in the wild might spread more widely and infect other species, researchers said. That might eventually make the virus endemic among wild animals, and in a worst case, give rise to new variants that could jump back to humans. [The study at the University of Pretoria](https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/14/1/120) is likely the first of its kind in Africa. Researchers began to monitor captive wildlife in zoos and conservation sanctuaries after a tiger at the Bronx zoo [got sick](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/science/tiger-cats-coronavirus.html) with the coronavirus in April 2020, according to Professor Marietjie Venter, the principal investigator on the study. The research team monitored two pumas that contracted the coronavirus at a private zoo in July 2020, during South Africa’s first pandemic wave. The pumas, which are not native to South Africa, started showing symptoms, including loss of appetite, diarrhea, runny noses and persistent coughs. Both cats made a full recovery after 23 days. About a year later at the same zoo, three lions began to show similar symptoms. One of the lions, an older female, developed pneumonia. The lion’s handler and an engineer at the zoo also tested positive for the virus. **Want to stay updated on what’s happening in South Africa?** , and we’ll send our latest coverage to your inbox. This time, researchers were able to sequence the samples and found that the lions and their handler were infected with the same Delta variant. The illness developed by the lions, particularly in the older female, showed that animals, like people, could develop severe symptoms from Delta, which drove South Africa’s deadliest pandemic wave. The lions recovered after 25 days, but had positive P.C.R. tests for more than three additional weeks. P.C.R. tests amplify the virus’s genetic material and therefore can detect even very small amounts. The data suggested that the amount of virus the lions were carrying decreased over those weeks, and it was not clear precisely how long they were infectious. In a captive environment, the animals were kept in quarantine, but in larger parks dotted around South Africa, where lions are a common public attraction, controlling an outbreak could prove “very, very difficult,” the study said, particularly if it were undetected. These lions are often fed by humans rather than hunting for themselves, increasing their exposure. “If you don’t know that it’s Covid, there’s a risk that it can then spread to other animals and then potentially back to humans,” said Dr. Venter, a professor of medical virology, who teamed up with a wildlife veterinary scientist for this study. The animals were infected long enough “that the virus can actually undergo mutations,” she said, “but the risk is more that if you’re in a wildlife reserve and it spreads into the wild it can then become endemic.” The coronavirus driving the global pandemic likely originated in bats and eventually jumped to humans, in what is known as “spillover” infections. Scientists warn that “spillback” infections of humans infecting animals — as have occurred with mink, deer and domestic cats — could ravage whole ecosystems in the wild. Infections that reached the wild could also expand the virus’s potential to spread unchecked and mutate in animals, potentially into variants dangerous to humans. One well-studied phenomenon involves [infections among large populations of captive mink](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/19/magazine/spillback-animal-disease.html). At one mink farm in Denmark, the virus mutated into a new strain during the switch from human to mink, prompting the mass slaughter of the animals throughout that country and Europe to prevent its spread back to humans. By contrast, the South African study involved small outbreaks, but Dr. Venter noted that the spread in mink shows the potential danger of larger outbreaks in wildlife. ## Related Content [More in Africa](https://www.nytimes.com/section/world/africa) - ![The Arctic Metagaz, a Russian tanker, was adrift between Malta and Lampedusa, Italy, last month.](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/04/23/multimedia/23int-Libya-Ship-gckl/23int-Libya-Ship-gckl-square640-v2.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) Miguela Xuereb/Newsbook Malta, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images - ![Pope Leo arriving in Cameroon’s capital, Yaoundé, on Tuesday.](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/04/15/multimedia/15int-pope-cameroon-top1-qgvz/15int-pope-cameroon-top1-qgvz-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) Daniel Beloumou Olomo/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images - ![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/04/08/world/00int-botswana-dwarf-profile-coevrslide-2-3/00int-botswana-dwarf-profile-coevrslide-2-3-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) Image by Joao Silva/The New York Times - ![El papa León XIV en Yaundé, capital de Camerún, el sábado.](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/04/18/espanol/18int-pope-1-qcgf-ES-copy1/18int-pope-1-qcgf-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) Image by Patrick Meinhardt/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Editors’ Picks - ![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/04/17/t-magazine/17tmag-promoimages-slide-81M8/17tmag-promoimages-slide-81M8-square640-v2.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) - ![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/04/26/magazine/26mag-ethicist-onlineonly/26mag-ethicist-onlineonly-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) Illustration by Tomi Um Trending in The Times - ![A flight tracker showed that a U.S. government plane landed at the Jose Marti International Airport in Havana. It appeared to be part of an F.B.I. mission to retrieve an American child. ](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/05/21/multimedia/21cuba-parents-mwvz/21cuba-parents-mwvz-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350) Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters - ![A sorting facility for Supercircle in North Las Vegas this month. The start-up aims to help the fashion industry use discarded textiles to make new clothes.](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/04/15/multimedia/00CLI-CLOTHES-RECYCLING-01-lmhz/00CLI-CLOTHES-RECYCLING-01-lmhz-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350) Mikayla Whitmore for The New York Times - ![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/02/24/dining/19Kenjirex-copy-nl/19Kenjirex-square640-v2.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350) Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini. - ![Lynda Roscoe Hartigan is the executive director and chief executive of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass.](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/04/23/multimedia/21cul-smithsonian-mtwq/21cul-smithsonian-mtwq-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350) via PEM; Photo by Alex Pau - ![The singer D4vd, 21, created the anthem for Fortnite. The severely decomposed remains of Celeste Rivas Hernandez were discovered in his car’s trunk in September.](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/04/20/multimedia/20cul-d4vd-charges-khcv/20cul-d4vd-charges-khcv-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350) Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images - ![Candidates in California’s race for governor (from left): Matt Mahan, Xavier Becerra, Chad Bianco, Steve Hilton, Tom Steyer and Katie Porter.](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/04/23/multimedia/23california-govenor-debate-wbgl-copy/23california-govenor-debate-wbgl-copy-square640-v2.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350) Image by Pool photo by Jason Henry - ![Inmates welcoming Pope Leo XIV in Bata, Equatorial Guinea, on Wednesday. ](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/04/22/multimedia/22int-pope-prison-2-qmkg/22int-pope-prison-2-qmkg-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350) Alberto Pizzoli/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images - ![Officers from several law enforcement agencies responded to reports of a shooting at the Mall of Louisiana in Baton Rouge, La. on Thursday.](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/04/23/multimedia/23xp-louisiana-tbjh/23xp-louisiana-tbjh-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350) Sara Cline/Associated Press - ![The cease-fire, which was scheduled to end on April 26, would last until May 17 if it takes effect as President Donald Trump described it.](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/04/23/multimedia/23dc-diplo-mideast/23met-doe-palestinian-qzhp-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350) Eric Lee for The New York Times - ![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/04/22/23mag-longevity-quiz-75567/23mag-longevity-quiz-75567-square640-v2.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350) Illustration by Giacomo Gambineri Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/20/world/africa/lions-covid-south-african-zoo.html#after-bottom)

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Lynsey Chutel

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2022-01-20 20:23:35 (4 years ago)

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