How to Mate Gorillas: Carefully

--Officials at The Zoo in Gulf Breeze, Fla., have a King Kong-size problem. They have got to keep 6-foot-2, 570-pound Colossus and 4-foot-8, 274-pound Muke separated--until the two gorillas are ready to meet. Muke (pronounced moo-key) is called worldly and sophisticated and is on loan for breeding from the St. Louis Zoo. But Colossus, who is the largest lowland gorilla in captivity and has not seen another member of his species since infancy, appears eager to accelerate the courtship. “Colossus has been peeking in through that little porthole over there and been knocking the dust out of the concrete walls,” said Pat Quinn, director of The Zoo. “He’s very excited about this whole affair.” They’re both about 22 years old, considered to be a prime breeding age. “She’s concerned, I think, about his size,” Quinn said. “He’s the Sylvester Stallone of the gorilla world.” But the two will be kept separated until both show signs of compatibility. Officials said they’ll be ready to meet when they start knocking the paint off the walls.

--Leo Rasmussen is all for building bridges--especially ones that span the Bering Sea, between Alaska and Siberia. Rasmussen has long thought that the 1,150-mile Anchorage-to-Nome Iditarod Sled Dog Race needed a Siberian musher. After all, the annual event has drawn mushers from around the world. Then, too, the dogs used are Siberian huskies. To Rasmussen, who is president of the Iditarod board of directors, it’s a question of symbolism. Well, the Iditarod Trail Committee obviously agreed. Officials are now seeking a Siberian to compete in next year’s race, offering to supply a dog team and training from three-time winner Susan Butcher, who won this year’s event also. But, as Rasmussen said, the invitation is being extended only for a resident of Siberia, not just any Soviet citizen. For now, however, race officials have other problems. They’re trying to teach the Soviets how to pronounce “Iditarod” and how to translate the word “musher.”

--Britain’s typically staid election scene may be spicier the next time around. And the country’s most famous madame, Cynthia Payne, could be just the person to guarantee it. Payne, also known as “Madame Cyn,” will seek a seat in the House of Commons during a special election and will campaign for the legalization of brothels, according to a spokesman for the Rainbow Alliance party, considered a fringe group. Although Payne was acquitted of prostitution charges last year, she served 18 months in jail in 1980 for operating a brothel in her London home.