Wild Valentine's Day Idea: How Animals Make Woo at the Zoo

Akati, a chimpanzee at the Detroit Zoo pictured with her offspring Akira on her back, turned 28 on Tuesday, Jan. 20. (Photo courtesy of Detroit Zoo)

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Birds do it. Bees do it. Find out how animals at the Detroit Zoo do it at the fourth annual Love Gone Wild on from 6:30-10 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 14.

Open to both singles and sweethearts 21 and older, this memorable Valentine’s Day event takes informal science learning to a new level through a candid, intimate and entertaining look at how many of the Detroit Zoo’s animal residents do the “wild thing”.

Hosted by Chief Life Sciences Officer Scott Carter, the evening includes stories of passionate – sometimes tawdry – encounters, May-December romances, unrequited love, mate swapping and positions not found in the Kama Sutra. The adult-themed exposé reveals details of the “love lives” of animals that are not always visible to Zoo visitors or fit to print on Zoo signs.

“From prolonged public bouts of coitus to brief clandestine assignations, sex among the animals happens at the zoo. We’re usually involved in planning or facilitating it, and we’re always watching for it, but we don’t often talk about it. At Love Gone Wild, we not only talk about it, we name names, show pictures and critique performance,” said Carter.

Held in the Detroit Zoo’s Ford Education Center, Love Gone Wild features a strolling supper and delectable desserts prepared by the Zoo’s culinary team from Dining in the Wild. A champagne welcome and two drink tickets are also included.

The cost is $75 per person for Detroit Zoological Society Members and $85 per person for non-members. Tickets must be purchased in advance and are available at www.detroitzoo.org/events/love-gone-wild and at Window One at the front of the Zoo.