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Adventures at the Zoo: Romances!
16 years ago
It's been a while since I updated about my life at the zoo so I thought I'd drop in with a couple of stories about the goings-on here! Most notable are the activities of certain animal couples around the zoo.
The new fossa couple were put together for the distinct purpose of breeding them. Unfortunately their breeding season doesn't start until September or October, and so far, they are not getting along. The male fossa (name of Dorian) doesn't seem to mind the female (Inara) so much, but she hates him. Whenever he gets near her, she makes a loud screeching noise and chases him all around the entire enclosure. Sometimes he doesn't even have to provoke her.. he'll just be lying there peacefully on a log, and she'll come up from behind and jump on him. His poor long tail has gotten more than one minor injury this way. The keepers are fairly sure that this behavior will change once breeding season hits, and if it does, it will be nothing short of resembling a bad chick flick: guy and girl hate each other, guy and girl are forced to spend time together, until finally they end up fucking each other! I really hope it turns out this way. I'm rooting for Dorian to get some tail (no pun intended) soon, anyway, since by the end of this summer, by god he deserves it!
Across the zoo, in the kangaroo exhibit, live two huge Aldabra tortoises (and I do mean huge - the male is 450 lbs). The fun thing about tortoises (which some of you may know) is that they mate quite frequently! I love it when this happens, since it illicits such amusing reactions from the guests, not to mention the interesting explanations they give their children. These beautiful tortoises mate about once a week, sometimes more, sometimes less. Usually when they're not mating, they're going about their own business, eating grass and chillin with the kangaroos. But yesterday, these tortoises weren't mating.. but they were snuggling (as much as tortoises can snuggle). When I first saw them in the morning, they were facing each other, as close to each other as possible, and one's head was on top of the other's. They were close like that most of the day! I've never seen tortoises so affectionate before, and I wish I'd taken pictures, but alas I will just have to keep the image of romantic tortoises in my heart.
Giraffes. Now, mind you, I didn't see this one firsthand, but I did hear about it through one of the giraffe keepers, which is a fairly reliable source. We have one giraffe male, and a few females. Their enclosure is divided so that not all the giraffes are available to each other all the time. So sometimes the male is separate from the females, even when they're in heat. Apparently, when this happens, the female giraffe in heat will try to resort to another female giraffe.. it will back up against her and try to provoke the female into mounting her.. and apparently sometimes it works! I can't imagine it turns out to be very satisfying for the rutting female, but my god I would love to see that.
As exciting romantically as this summer has been so far, I think last winter must have been the winter of love, because we have had so many baby animals born this summer, and there are still more to come! We had baby golden lion tamarins at the beginning of the summer, and I know that the siamese crocodiles are nesting. Our new baby snow leopard was just put on display. Both the elephant and the giraffe are due any day now, and there are a couple more baby animals on the way that haven't yet been publicly announced. So for those of you who happen to live around here, this season is a good time to visit! Animal sex is entertaining enough, but then it also produces baby animals, which should really be the end goal of every activity we pursue. :)
The new fossa couple were put together for the distinct purpose of breeding them. Unfortunately their breeding season doesn't start until September or October, and so far, they are not getting along. The male fossa (name of Dorian) doesn't seem to mind the female (Inara) so much, but she hates him. Whenever he gets near her, she makes a loud screeching noise and chases him all around the entire enclosure. Sometimes he doesn't even have to provoke her.. he'll just be lying there peacefully on a log, and she'll come up from behind and jump on him. His poor long tail has gotten more than one minor injury this way. The keepers are fairly sure that this behavior will change once breeding season hits, and if it does, it will be nothing short of resembling a bad chick flick: guy and girl hate each other, guy and girl are forced to spend time together, until finally they end up fucking each other! I really hope it turns out this way. I'm rooting for Dorian to get some tail (no pun intended) soon, anyway, since by the end of this summer, by god he deserves it!
Across the zoo, in the kangaroo exhibit, live two huge Aldabra tortoises (and I do mean huge - the male is 450 lbs). The fun thing about tortoises (which some of you may know) is that they mate quite frequently! I love it when this happens, since it illicits such amusing reactions from the guests, not to mention the interesting explanations they give their children. These beautiful tortoises mate about once a week, sometimes more, sometimes less. Usually when they're not mating, they're going about their own business, eating grass and chillin with the kangaroos. But yesterday, these tortoises weren't mating.. but they were snuggling (as much as tortoises can snuggle). When I first saw them in the morning, they were facing each other, as close to each other as possible, and one's head was on top of the other's. They were close like that most of the day! I've never seen tortoises so affectionate before, and I wish I'd taken pictures, but alas I will just have to keep the image of romantic tortoises in my heart.
Giraffes. Now, mind you, I didn't see this one firsthand, but I did hear about it through one of the giraffe keepers, which is a fairly reliable source. We have one giraffe male, and a few females. Their enclosure is divided so that not all the giraffes are available to each other all the time. So sometimes the male is separate from the females, even when they're in heat. Apparently, when this happens, the female giraffe in heat will try to resort to another female giraffe.. it will back up against her and try to provoke the female into mounting her.. and apparently sometimes it works! I can't imagine it turns out to be very satisfying for the rutting female, but my god I would love to see that.
As exciting romantically as this summer has been so far, I think last winter must have been the winter of love, because we have had so many baby animals born this summer, and there are still more to come! We had baby golden lion tamarins at the beginning of the summer, and I know that the siamese crocodiles are nesting. Our new baby snow leopard was just put on display. Both the elephant and the giraffe are due any day now, and there are a couple more baby animals on the way that haven't yet been publicly announced. So for those of you who happen to live around here, this season is a good time to visit! Animal sex is entertaining enough, but then it also produces baby animals, which should really be the end goal of every activity we pursue. :)
Think how much more we'd care about the UN if there were baby pandas and lion cubs present
I guess the real question may become if she will respect him in the morning after the foosas mate.
Just realized; now *you* can post lovely videos of tortoises in action! On the other hand, maybe you could draw the tortoises as you remember them :)
We had a buck and doe rabbit when I was younger. When she was in heat, she would mount him and go to town. He finally got up the nerve to mount her, but it left him confused for a while.
I look forward to hearing more about all the new babies!
Here's rooting for Dorian! He'll have his chance, though, and afterward, he'll run like hell in the opposite direction! ;)
-Ferox