In the Bible story, Noah apparently had no problem pairing up animals for an epic journey, hoof by snout by wing by claw, in the hold of a great big floating menagerie with a view to repopulating the entire world with wildlife once the damn rain stopped. In real life, however, creature couplings can be unpredictable. Take London Zoo's Sumatran tigers. Thrown together in the hope that male, Lumpur, would take a fancy to female Sarah, where he had failed to do the business with previous potential girlfriend and roommate, Raika, zookeepers were gutted to discover that instead of fucking, they'd been fighting.
Sarah is apparently "grumpy". We're not that surprised at this as she probably didn't want to come to London in the first place and is pining for the Black Country and her former home, Dudley Zoo. Her mood won't be improving either as it seems she's coming off worse in her truculent tangles with unamorous Lumpur. Unless this is just some kind of elaborate, tigry foreplay? We're not opposed to a little tussle and tease, pre-coitus, getting the claws out and wrestling for dominance. But the keepers are having none of it. Sarah's lodging with the lions for now. ZSL may need to raise a cool £5m to build a separate pen for her, unless they can switch her back with Raika.
A happier wildlife pairing is currently in residence atop the Palace of Westminster. The difference, of course, is that these two Peregrine Falcons chose to throw their feathery lots in together and are bringing swooping grace and brooding beauty to the lofty realms of the seat of Parliament. The London population of these birds of prey is happily on the up with romantic perches on Tate Modern, Battersea Power Station and the Millennium Dome benefiting the birds' breeding. It's not all hearts and flowers though. Peregrine falcons eat pigeons. Could be interesting times ahead for Westminster's pedestrians and street cleaners.
Tiger by SooHK via the Londonist Flickrpool and falcon by Captain Chickenpants under the Creative Commons Attribution licence.
