It’s one thing to see an animated meerkat and warthog confidently belt a Swahili phrase to a surly cartoon lion cub, and hum along—but there’s nothing fun about watching real-looking animals ...

The Dallas Zoo sent Disney footage of their month-old lion cub "for motion and behavior references when designing Simba" Kelli Bender is the Pets Editor at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE ...