Guwahati, April 22: Mary, a lioness, died at the Assam state zoo-cum-botanical garden here today. The 18-year-and-nine-month-old lioness died of old age, sources in the zoo said.

There are three lionesses and two lions in the zoo now. Mary had been rescued from Moonlight Circus and brought to the zoo way back in 2002-2003. Since then, she had been an inmate of the zoo.

"Mary had died of old age. She had been eating very little for a month. The lifespan of lions is usually 12 to 16 years. The other three lionesses and two lions are, however, in good health," Chandan Bora, divisional forest officer of the zoo, said.

The carcass was buried inside the zoo premises following its post-mortem today.