Volume 3, No. 3. February 14, 2003
Valentines for zoos
A
memorable date
Today is Valentine's Day. Over the course of a year, amusement and attractions
venues will seize on suitable holidays for marketing opportunities and special
promotions. In North America, today belongs to the zoos, not just because zoos,
unlike most amusement parks and waterparks, are open today, but because the
theme of this holiday dovetails nicely with a key purpose of zoos. Valentine’s
Day is all about romancing your mate, zoos are all about replenishing species.
Same thing.
The one element that makes the day’s theme and the zoos’ purpose the
“same thing” is—let’s speak frankly here—procreation.
So, many zoos, those paragons of childhood experiences, those most family-oriented
of any community’s cultural institution, use Valentine’s Day as a
chance to get a little randy, to earn R ratings rather than G or even PG.
On this day, zoos are blessed with a convergence of situations they don’t
get with other holidays. One, mating season for many species is just getting
under way, so the holiday’s timing and subject matter are in sync. Two,
zoos deal with breeding programs daily, and with Valentine’s Day they can
highlight that mission and its accompanying educational mission for the public.
Three, by couching the topic in a bit of lasciviousness and adding some libations,
zoos can use the holiday as a promotional outreach to a demographic segment
seldom included in zoo’s standard market base, namely adults without children.
Here follows a few Valentine’s Day programs propagated by zoos around the
country.
Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens, Cincinnati, Ohio—What started
five years ago as primarily a scientific video presentation—sort of the
animal equivalent of pornographic films—has evolved into a pun-filled evening
class on mating rituals. Rather than using graphic images, “Experience
the Wild Side of Love” uses audience participation exercises to compare
animal mating rituals to the kinds of behaviors humans engage in (gifts, dancing,
subtle flirting, blatant flirting, building the perfect seduction scene). “We
heavily anthropomorphize in this program,” said Dan Marsh, the zoo’s
assistant director of education. “In this setting we have a little license
to do that.”
One of Marsh’s exercises asks the men and women to create offerings for
their loved ones using such ingredients as ice cream, bananas, nuts, whipped
cream and maraschino cherries. Sounds like a banana split, but, said Marsh,
“You would not believe what they come up with. Interestingly, the male
offerings are often phallic, and the female offerings are usually mammaric in
nature. While I think the women get it, I don’t think the guys get it.”
The class, which usually draws about 60 people, is open to couples age 16 and
over; but champagne is available only for those 21 and older. Often, one mate
will use the class as a surprise Valentine’s Day gift. “We see a lot
of bewildered looking men and women being driven into the zoo,” Marsh said.
“You have to be careful when you call people back and leave a message on
the phone because you could spoil the surprise.”
($18 per couple members, $22 per couple nonmembers.)
Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, Columbus, Ohio—Though the zoo calls its
annual program “The Mating Game,” “You’re not actually going
to see mating,” said Lisa Beebe, special events coordinator. “It has
happened in the past that things have occurred, but that’s not our goal.”
The seven-year program usually sells out the 80 spaces available in each of
two sessions. Limited to adults 21 and older, the group starts with a champagne
brunch and then takes behind the-scenes tours meeting keepers. This year the
program is adding a scavenger hunt with all questions related to mating.
The program attracts a large number of veterinary students from Ohio State University,
but it also has served the purpose of building a market among “a group
of people who don’t normally come here,” Beebe said. “They’re
leaving here excited about the zoo. They think it’s a fun place and they’re
telling their friends and family about it.” But not necessarily their kids.
($40 members,$45 nonmembers.)
Oklahoma City Zoo, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma—Now in its third year,
“Romancing the Zoo” is “picking up steam as we go each year,”
said Public Relations Manager Tara Henson. The heart of the event is a candlelight,
table-clothed catered dinner and dance in the zoo’s new food court. Before
the guests get there, they have a couple of icebreaker games to play.
First up is the Courtship Charades where, by luck of the draw, contestants must
emulate mating rituals of certain species, like a whale’s song or a prairie
chicken’s dance. Then comes the Zoolywed Game in which four couples are
queried about their knowledge of each other, but the questions are all related
to animals’ mating behaviors. Sample question: “Which display of affection
would your partner find most attractive?” Sample answer: “biting the
neck like a leopard.” Sample contestant: do we really want to know?
Henson said the event draws 60 to 70 people. “It’s still growing,
but we don’t want it to get too big. We want to keep it intimate.”
She also noticed that people usually book late. “It seems like Valentine’s
Day is a last-minute holiday when people decide what to do,” she said.
The event is also a favorite for the media, and not just to cover. This year
one of the CBS affiliate reporters purchased a ticket.
($90 per couple members, $100 per couple nonmembers.)
San Francisco Zoo, San Francisco, California—The progenitor of all
sex tours is “The Sex Tour,” now in its 15th year. Penguin keeper
Jane Tollini launched the tradition when she put construction paper hearts in
the penguin exhibit for the birds to use as nesting material, placed a boom
box blaring Johnny Mathis next to the exhibit and invited the media out for
a narration of “As The Penguin Turns,” a soap opera depiction of her
charges. The next year she was leading zebra train tours throughout the whole
zoo talking about the mating habits of all animals.
“It’s very tongue-in-cheek, very anthropomorphic, but you come away
with a lesson in how animals do it,” said Nancy Chan, the zoo’s public
relations director. The tours, usually expanded out to two weekends to meet
demand, can handle 70 people each twice a day. The tour ends in the South America
Tropical Forest facility for a lecture, champagne and truffles. The tours’
popularity annually attracts national and international media interest; Chan
starts getting calls as early as October from journalists wanting to book a
place on the media tour. Aside from the publicity, The Sex Tours, with its 18-and-above
age restriction, “brings in audiences who never would have come to the
zoo before, the 20-somethings and a lot of seniors," Chan said. "We
fill up the morning tour with so many seniors.”
It’s fair to say, though, that sex isn’t this tour’s main draw.
“People want to pay to see Jane,” Chan said. “Every tour Jane
has to preface it by saying, ‘If you think you’re going to see animals
mate on this tour, go home and do it yourself.’” Nevertheless, some
serendipitous moments occur. At one point the tour stops at the children’s
petting zoo for a meet and greet with the goats. On one day the tour stopped
just after two baby goats had been born.
And that’s what it—THE “it”—is all about.
($55 per person.)
South Carolina Aquarium, Charleston, South Carolina—The aquarium
decided this year to forego a mating-focused Valentine’s Day promotion,
but it is not letting the day slip by unnoticed. The aquarium’s volunteer
department put together a list of the 20-some couples among its volunteer corps
and turned the tally over to Public Relations Manager Angel Passailaigue, who
pedaled the news to the local media. The media, in turn, planned to send crews
to the aquarium today to feature some of these couples.
“This is a very close group,” Passailaigue said. “We have several
staff members who are couples, too.” That would include herself and Arnold
Postell, the aquarium’s head diver and dive safety officer, who met through
their work. Their wedding date is set in July.
©2003, Minton Enterprises
LLC
All rights reserved