In The Wild (1992)

Zoo Babies with Whoopi Goldberg (1999x2)

: 26, 1999

You would think it would be easy getting animals to breed - after all, mating is a natural desire - but as Whoopi Goldberg finds out, things aren’t always as straightforward as they seem. Visiting the Zoo and Wild Animal Park of San Diego, Whoopi explores the challenges the staff must overcome to breed critically endangered species. Whoopi uses her own unique brand of sensitivity and humour to shed light on the difficulties of finding a partner and becoming a parent. She is not a keen flier. But even if she were, if she flew the world ten times over, trekked through jungles, climbed mountains, crawled through deserts, Whoopi wouldn’t find half the animals you can see at the Zoo in a single day. Why? Because many have fallen to critically low numbers in the wild. In some cases, only a handful are left, perched in remote corners of the earth in an ever-dwindling habitat. That is what zoos like this are all about; keeping numbers going. The top behaviourists and reproductive physiologists work together to find ways of helping animals reproduce. The process begins with finding the right partner. Whoopi Goldberg has her own ideas on how difficult that can be. It’s not as if we humans are stuck for choice - we’re just picky. Well, animals can be picky too.