Zoo keeper hired to teach children about the birds and the bees Ms Britton, 32, a primate specialist, said she had heard parents give their children "really silly" answers to explain the sight of animals mating. They are quite quick and are happy to do it in full view of the public. They really don't have many qualms. I have had some really silly comments that parents have told their children. On one occasion two primates were mating and one of them was bigger than the other. This parent told her child that the bigger one was pumping the smaller one up. It is just easier to say that they are mating and that in four months' time there will be a baby on the way. That way it doesn't make it a taboo. Children are not shocked or disgusted by it - they just accept it. In recent weeks, Chessington has welcomed the arrival of eight meerkats, a sitatunga, a golden lion headed tamarin, two squirrel monkeys, twin gentle lemurs and a Standing's day gecko. Ms Britton said fathers and young boys were typically most bemused by the experience.