Way Beyond the Birds and the Bees

It’s an embarrassing curiosity, a subject too racy to be talked about in polite company. But you’ve often wondered: How do Coco the gorilla, Shamu the whale, Babe the pig and other animals breed?

Each Valentine’s Day, the Los Angeles Zoo’s interim general curator, Mike Dee, answers these questions and more in an adults-only “Prime Mate Party.” We recently visited him at the zoo for a preview of this year’s event.

“People want to know what the heck is going on in the animal kingdom,” Dee says, stopping his motorized cart in front of the Indian rhino exhibit. Rhino copulation is among the longer lasting in the animal kingdom, about one hour, he says.

“Many people believe the horn is what gives the rhino the ability to breed for so long, and that anything derived from the horn is an aphrodisiac.”

But, he deadpans, “it didn’t do anything for me.”

Occasionally, visitors to the zoo get to see animal courtship up close.

One of the L.A. Zoo’s most prolific males is Kito, a Masai giraffe who has sired 18 offspring. “He’s a stud muffin,” jokes Dee. Male animals aren’t picky about whom they couple with. This is true for most animal species, he says. “All a female has to do is, well, be a female.”

But a female box turtle can exert some control over whom she mates with. Since a box turtle is both a land and water animal, it can close its shell completely. “If a female has had enough, she can ‘Bobbitt’ [or castrate] the male she’s breeding with,” explains Dee. “So the males prop a foot in the female’s shell while they are mating.”

Although most wild animals do not live in family units, those in captivity sometimes live together for years. Cookie and Lionel, the L.A. Zoo’s two African lions, have been cohabitating for eight years. The lions came to the zoo from a private owner, who spayed and neutered them as if they were house cats. Nevertheless, the two still mate, 15 to 20 times in a 24-hour period.

“Male lions tolerate cubs, but they have been known to kill children in the pride.” In most animal species, the male has nothing to do with raising the children, Dee says.

A male saiga antelope spends the whole summer protecting his harem, so no one else can breed with them. “When winter comes, he has no fat reserves and may die. But genetically he has passed his genes on,” Dee explains.

Dee became interested in animal mating habits because “giving animals the proper home to breed in is the ultimate accomplishment. When you see in a captive situation fourth and fifth generations of animals, it’s very rewarding.”

“Prime Mate Party,” 3-6 p.m. Sunday. Los Angeles Zoo, 5333 Zoo Drive. $40 per person or $60 per couple. (323) 644-4294.