Forever Valentines: Animals that Mate Long-Term

During their springtime mating season, trumpeter swans put their best, webbed foot forward to find a forever mate. Raising and shimmying their wings, bobbing their heads, and trumpeting characterize their courtship displays, and they are monogamous once they find their match. Both swans help build their nest, and both parents care for their cygnets for the first year of their life. (Note: the trumpeter swans may or may not be visible at present due to upgrades to their outdoor habitat.)

Beavers build a sturdy life with their partners, forming colonies with other mated pairs and raising their young together for the first two years of life. They are among only 3% of mammals that mate for life, and they find one another through scent marking.

Mexican gray wolves live in packs typically made up of two adults and their offspring. The alpha pair mates for life, and their young learn survival skills from their parents and siblings until they begin dispersing around age two.

Gibbons are a rare example of a species closely related to humans that may partner long-term. Females perform dance-like behaviors to attract males. Mated gibbons even sing duets from the treetops, which sounds romantic but actually serves to assert their territory.

Generally monogamous, red-crowned cranes perform an elaborate courtship dance that involves bowing to one another, leaping into the air, and undulating their long necks. The male crane protects the nest as the female serves as primary caregiver to their chicks, and the family remains together until the following breeding season when the offspring leave their parents.

Asian small-clawed otters mate long-term, with both otters helping to burrow and build their nest. They live in groups of up to 20, and all members of the family help feed and care for their young. (Note: the otters at the Zoo are not currently visible to guests due to Primate Forest construction.)