RRRRRR!! "Russian Zoo Animals Mate Early In Steamy Winter Heat" - Reuters

[hatrack]

MOSCOW - Animals at a Russian zoo have started mating early this year because of steamy temperatures in the warmest Russian winter for a generation, zoo officials said on Wednesday.

Temperatures have recently fallen to more arctic norms, but the unusual heat allowed pumas and camels to shrug off the winter blues and start frolicking early. "Some animals have started their mating season early this year because of the warm winter," Maxim Kozlov, the curator at Ivanovo Zoo, northeast of Moscow, told Reuters by telephone.

Russia's spectacular winters came to an end this year in European Russia with little snow and temperatures so warm that animals -- and many Russians -- were left wondering what to do.

"We are awaiting offspring from the lynxes and camels. Pumas can breed all year but usually in winter they slow down -- this year because of the warm weather we will see Puma 'kittens' two months early," Kozlov said.

EDIT

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/39994/newsDate/25-Jan-2007/story.htm

[aquart]

1. And the ASPCA has had an early inundation of kittens.

[etherealtruth]

2. One of the NPR shows did a very interesting segment on this ...

Moscow reportedly has used significantly less fossil fuel this year due to the unusual warmth and lack of snow ... I guess one could see that as a positive (albeit very small +, in a very negative situation)

[Dogmudgeon]

3. Maybe that's why I'm atypically horned up

Or perhaps it's simply the impending extinction of my kind that has driven me to an unaccustomed sexual frenzy.

It could be all those wee-wee pill commercials during Spongebob Hotpants. The sight of two middle-aged slut puppies in twin bathtubs always does it to me.

--p!
Talk to your doctor.