Wallaby My Valentine?

Happy Valentine's Day this week. Some of you heard about our recent visit to the local zoo to participate in their "Courtship Tails" Valentine event. I saw it listed in the paper and considered that we'd be honoring Amy in our celebration by taking part so off we went.  Four couples are treated to some stories of the zoo animals and their mating and breeding habit. 

Perhaps I should have known we were in a little bit of trouble when they whipped out the camera and had us pose for a nice cozy picture practically before we removed our jackets.  We pondered about the other three couples--my guess being that they would all look just like us--people with nothing much better to do on a Saturday afternoon in the dead of winter.  When we entered the room, two other couples had already arrived--a lesbian couple and a gay couple (these guys were visiting from Long Island, believe it or not).  I thought "OK, not exactly just like us but a fair representation for such a gathering".  The fourth couple arrived and off we went for the tour.

Our guide was very knowledgeable about the mating and breeding of a wide range of zoo animals.  Most of the animals weren't doing much of anything to demonstrate technique for us, but we did learn that the animals miss visitors while the zoo is closed over the winter months.  I'll spare you the slithery snake facts (groan and shiver--me, not the snake) but will share one interesting breeding fact about the wallaby.  A wallaby fetus stays dormant until the mother's pouch has been cleared of its most recent occupant.  One joey leaves the pouch and the very next minute the next one is staging itself for birth in about a month.

It was only the wallabies that were showing any romantic gestures while we were there.  The female did not seem altogether interested, batting the males away rather ineffectively with her short little front arms.  I was reminded of something there.........oh yes, romance in the 7th grade hallway.  Visitors walk by the wallaby exhibit to get back stage with the penguins and many of our group members were already cooing over the penguins when the male wallaby managed to get himself on top of the female.  One of the guys in our group frantically tried to call the others back.  "This is what we came to see--come back!  They're doing it!" echoed across the nearly empty zoo. 

It was fun and we were treated to wine tasting, chocolates and red velvet cupcakes (red velvet for the reindeer--clever).  Each couple was interviewed by the local news. See it here (don't know who that grey haired couple is, but they seem nice) Great fun was had by those who wondered if Jim was able to speak for himself.  This was shortly after they asked how long we'd been married and he couldn't answer without checking inside his wedding ring and doing some serious math.    They didn't show that part and now you have the "back stage" view of our visit.

Except for one more detail--as that fourth couple got in their car to leave, I noticed their license plate said JUST BFF.  I had to laugh to myself as I thought that kind of skewed the demographics of our group a bit.