Males, I agree, can be a lot of beasts (9)

I believe the answer is:

menagerie

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'beasts' is the definition.
(a menagerie is a collection of animals)

'males i agree can be' is the wordplay.
'males' becomes 'men' (man is a kind of male).
'can be' is an anagram indicator.
'i'+'agree'='iagree'
'iagree' with letters rearranged gives 'agerie'.
'men'+'agerie'='MENAGERIE'

'a lot of' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for menagerie that I've seen before include "[TENNESSEE WILLIAMS] work in part" , "Animals go in here" , "Assembly of animals" , "Animal exhibition" , "where the occupants behave like animals" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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