Zoo shares sex
for Valentine’s

Honolulu Zoo expects a record crowd
for its annual Zoorotica Day

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By Matt Sedensky
Associated Press

Porcupine orgies. Rhinos' multiple orgasms. Aroused elephants.

Those stories of unbridled animal passion will fill the Honolulu Zoo today as it employs a marketing lesson repeated by its counterparts nationwide: Sex sells.

The zoo is forecasting a record crowd of 180 at its sixth annual adults-only gathering today: Zoorotica Valentine's Day. Participants pay $30, or $55 a couple, to get the lowdown on all the raunchy details of animals' sex lives.

"It's interesting to know that these animals go through all these wildly different mating rituals," said Susie Gardner, the director of education programs for the Honolulu Zoo Society, which is hosting the nighttime event.

Gardner said when the zoo director would give VIPs tours of the zoo, she would often throw in some X-rated details. The idea evolved into the Valentine's Day event in 1998, and it has been growing in popularity since, attracting both singles and couples and everyone from college students to retirees.

Similar events have been attracting crowds across the country since the San Francisco Zoo first came up with its "Sex Tour" in the late 1980s.

At Zoo Atlanta it's the "Love In The Zoo" lecture and dance party. At the Columbus Zoo in Ohio, it's "The Mating Game." And in San Diego a "Night Moves" program sells out seven nights straight in February.

The topic has proved so popular, aquariums are getting into the act, too. Starting this year, the New York Aquarium is offering a February "Sex in the Sea" singles mixer.

In Honolulu, Valentine's night visitors will begin their tour with chocolates and champagne near the South American aviary, where the sounds of vultures and toucans resonate in the background.

Then, tour guides with all the details of jungle love -- all hold degrees in zoology or biology -- lead groups through the zoo, lecturing on animals' most primal instincts.

There are the elephants, which gather around a couple after sex, trumpeting in post-coital celebration. There are the African crested porcupines, which get together in droves just once a year for a massive display of group sex. There are the playful hippos, splashing one another for attention, and the strangely flirtatious male crocodile, blowing bubbles to impress a potential mate.

"There's nothing nasty about it," said Karen Torkildson, 46, of Honolulu, who attended Zoorotica with her husband two years ago. "It really was sort of a romantic evening."

Participants do not actually witness animals in their amorous acts -- most creatures reserve mating for daytime.

After the two-hour tour, participants enjoy warm brownies, ice cream and gourmet coffee while a guitarist plays love songs near a covered pavilion renamed "The Afterglow Cafe."

The event is not without its opponents. At a Honolulu City Council meeting Tuesday on the possible privatization of the zoo, animal rights advocate Cathy Goeggel called Zoorotica "smarmy" and evidence of philosophical flaws in the zoo society. Gardner, who coordinates the annual event, said one zookeeper has expressed opposition to it. But, like similar events elsewhere, many people seem to love it.

"It works because it's so tongue in cheek, so funny," said Nancy Chan, of the San Francisco Zoo, whose tour prompted copycats nationwide. "But at the same time, you're learning a lot."

Splashing, songs are part of mating Associated Press Here is a look at some of nature's more interesting mating rituals, as detailed at the Zoorotica Valentine's Day event at the Honolulu Zoo: >> Elephants: A male's glands secrete fluid as he becomes aroused. He can become so intoxicated with his own scent, he'll dribble urine filled with hormones as he pursues a female. >> White-handed gibbons sing high-pitched notes to one another. >> Female orangutans mate just once every seven years. >> Foreplay among rhino-ceroses can go on for days or weeks. Mating lasts about an hour and an half, and the male ejaculates about every one to two minutes. >> Males crocodiles blow bubbles and splash to attract females' attention. Source: Susie Gardner, Honolulu Zoo Society