If men took a lesson from the Australian marsupial Antechinus, they might spend the weeks before St. Valentine's Day so consumed with anxiety in anticipation of mating that they couldn't eat or sleep, exhausting themselves to the point that they'd all die after the act. Male ostriches dance madly, sometimes for hours, to attract a mate but survive copulation, which takes only a few seconds.
Like humans, animals sometimes go to extremes to find mates - and at Survival of the Sexiest: Dance and Animal Romance, a special St. Valentine's Day event at the Natural History Museum, humans get the chance to learn more about how other species go about ensuring their survival.
Survival of the Sexiest is a light-hearted look at how wild things do the wild thing, served up with Epicurean desserts and coffees, soft beverages and dancing to Swing 39, Lawrence's retro-hip combo. In addition to learning about courting behavior, participants will find out about pheromones (in the animal world, sprayed urine is the equivalent of the priciest perfume), animal anatomy (most snakes have prongs at the end of their paired penises that help ensure fertilization), aphrodisiacs based on products found in nature (including the foods you'd find at your local grocer that are reputed to improve performance) and more.
Survival of the Sexiest will begin at 9 p.m. Feb. 14 in the museum's Dyche Hall galleries. The cost is $20 a person, and reservations are required. Call (785) 864-4173.