Miami Animal Expert Ron Magill Talks About ‘Sex’ at the Book Fair

Zoo Miami’s Ron Magill talks about his book :Sex and the Animals: The Bizarre and Beautiful World of Procreating in the Wild” at the Miami Book Fair on Saturday, Nov. 21, along with his co-author Greg Cote. The book will be released by Ulysses Press on Feb. 2. (Photo courtesy of Miami Book Fair)

About 25 years ago, Zoo Miami (then known as Miami Metrozoo) began hosting a lecture series with the mission to get more people to come to the zoo. The series brought in researchers to discuss their work, but their talks weren’t drawing an audience.

“Some of these people are brilliant scientists, but they’re not good storytellers,” said Ron Magill, who was the organization’s communication and media relations director until retiring after 46 years in May of 2026.

The zoo’s director knew Magill liked speaking to audiences. “Can you come up with something that would attract more people?” Magill recalls the director asking him. “And I said, ‘Oh, I know exactly the kind of talk I’d like to do, but I don’t know how the board would feel about it.’”

Magill’s idea was “Sex with the Animals.” The board suggested a more restrained title, something like “breeding behavior of ungulates in captivity.” But he emphatically told them, “It’s got to have the word sex in it, or it’s not going to work.”

The subject was never meant to shock for its own sake. Magill wanted to use curiosity and humor to get people to pay attention to the animals.

The lecture series sold out immediately, and it went on to become the most popular talk in the zoo’s history, drawing 500 to 600 people each time, according to Magill.

It was eventually renamed “Sex and the Animals.” “Believe it or not, there were still people that expected something really weird,” Magill said.

Ron Magill’s book “Sex and the Animals” features his wildlife photography. The book grew out his popular talks at Zoo Miami. (Photo courtesy of Miami Book Fair)

Magill and co-author Greg Cote will discuss their book, set for release in February, at Miami Book Fair on Saturday, Nov. 21, which draws from decades of the talks. Their noon session, “When the Dating World Is a Literal Jungle,” is scheduled for the MAGIC Screening Room in Building 8 at noon. There is no cost for the session, but visitors pay street fair admission to attend. The hardcover edition of “Sex and the Animals: The Bizarre and Beautiful World of Procreating in the Wild” is published by Ulysses Press.

When he was approached about turning the presentations into a book, Magill said he would do it with one caveat: photographs had to do much of the storytelling.

That requirement reaches back to another part of Magill’s career when he began taking photos out of what he calls “necessity.” He was writing scientific papers on conservation.

“I wanted them published in magazines, and I would submit them, and they’d say, ‘Oh, these are great, but we need some photographs.’ ” He would contact stock agencies. “I need a picture of a cheetah chasing a gazelle,” and they would tell him how much the photo rights would cost.

He decided he would be better off buying a camera and teaching himself. He read photography magazines and entered contests. “I started entering some of the contests, and then I started winning them,” he said. Magill eventually won a Nikon contest that awarded $10,000 in camera gear.

“That empowered me,” Magill said. Eventually, he was named a Nikon ambassador “about 15 or 20 years ago” for his wildlife photography. “I’ve been riding that wave ever since.” Since his retirement, he now serves as the Zoo Miami Foundation’s Goodwill Ambassador and Conservation Liaison.

It was important for his new book to not just be full of words. “I want color photographs in there,” he told the publisher. “I want people to look at the photographs and then want to read more, because how do you explain the photograph?”

The subject of the book, he said, is broader than reproduction. Animals’ courtship, mating and parenting can reveal behaviors people might assume are strange or unnatural. Magill points to dolphins, which he says have sex for pleasure, and recalls what he calls a “lesbian pair of flamingos” at the zoo. Each laid an egg, but neither egg would hatch. Keepers removed both eggs and placed an egg from a fertile pair in their nest. The flamingos raised the chick

‘Those two gay parents were the most perfect parents we had in the whole flamboyance,” Magill said.

He learned surprising things along the way, including “the absolute determination of males,” adding that it’s not much different from the world of human beings.

“It’s the females who run the show. Females say if, when, how many times, and the males have to really work for it. And I can’t tell you how many males I’ve watched go through dances.”

He recalled once watching an ostrich trying to coax a female. “For three days, he danced in front of her. She would eat something and walk away. But he never gave up.” In the end, she made a different selection. “He danced for so many days and never got lucky. The reason is that she wanted to make sure she’s got the best male to produce her offspring. It’s that whole natural selection thing, which really has a lot of credibility when it comes to the animal kingdom.”

Humor is part of how he makes those stories stick. He describes a lion mating with a female every 20 minutes for three days, and a gorilla whose small genitalia contrast with his powerful build. The point is not to make the animals into punchlines, Magill said, but to help people remember details and see beyond their assumptions.

[MORE BOOK FAIR: An Interview With Jess Gibson]

“I don’t care how they remember,” he said. “At the end of the day, I just want them to remember.”

For the book, Magill worked with Cote, his longtime friend and Miami Herald columnist, who had previously collaborated with him on “The Pride of a Lion.” Cote attended the zoo presentation several times and spent months talking with Magill, sometimes a couple of times a week.

When he read the finished manuscript, Magill said, he became emotional. Cote had captured not only the jokes and intimate details but also the argument beneath them: animals are living creatures with drives and relationships that can make the natural world feel closer to our own.

One of Magill’s favorite examples is Goliath, a Galapagos tortoise who has been at the zoo since Magill began working there. Magill said Goliath became a father for the first time at 134. When people call the tortoise a “dirty old man,” Magill corrects them: “He’s a happy old man.”

Thriller writer James Grippando discussing “The Right to Remain: A Jack Swyteck Novel” at 11 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 22. (Photo courtesy of Miami Book Fair)

Readers looking for more South Florida voices at this year’s Miami Book Fair can find thriller writer James Grippando discussing “The Right to Remain: A Jack Swyteck Novel” at 11 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 22; journalist and author Mirta Ojito, who will speak about her book “La memoria de las olas” in a Spanish-language event at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21; and Miami artist Pepe Mar, appearing at 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21.

Author Rochelle B. Weinstein will moderate a conversation with Zibby Owens at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 15. J. Adrian Betancourt’s novel is listed among the Fair’s indie-author exhibitors, and entrepreneur David Grutman will discuss his book about relationships, business and building a career at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 17.

Entrepreneur David Grutman will discuss his book about relationships, business and building a career at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 17. (Photo courtesy of Miami Book Fair)

The lineup also includes national authors including thriller writers Brad Meltzer and Brad Thor, appearing together at 8 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 18; romance authors

Elena Armas and Meg Cabot at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 19; and Bonnie Garmus, whose second novel follows the success of “Lessons in Chemistry.” Garmus appears at 2:45 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 21. On Sunday, Nov. 22, at 6:30 p.m., Anne Rice’s son, Christopher Rice, joins Eric Shaw Quinn and novelist Carissa Broadbent for a conversation marking the 50th anniversary of “Interview with the Vampire.”

Meg Cabot, author of “The Princess Diaries” series will join Elena Armas to discuss “Alma Vampires,” Armas’ gothic romance about a young heiress drawn into a century-old blood debt involving a powerful vampire. The conversation is at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19, at Miami Book Fair. (Photo courtesy of Miami Book Fair)

For Street Fair visitors, “Broadway Takes Miami” is a Saturday morning pick: original “Rent” musical director Tim Weil joins pianist and host Seth Rudetsky, composer Ryan Scott Oliver and performer Darius de Haas to discuss the show’s music and legacy. Like Magill’s talk, they’ll appear on Saturday, Nov. 21, from 11 a.m. to noon and it is included with Street Fair admission.

WHAT: Miami Dade College’s 42nd Miami Book Fair

WHERE: Miami Dade College’s (MDC) Wolfson Campus, 300 NE Second Ave.,

Miami.

WHEN:  Sunday, Nov. 15 to Sunday, Nov. 22. Various times for author events; Street Fair 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Friday, Nov. 20 and Saturday, Nov. 21, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 22.

COST:  Free admission to street fair on Friday, Nov. 20; Otherwise, $18 weekend pass, $12 daily; seniors, $12, $7; teens $8, $5; children under 12 free Saturday, Nov. 21 and Sunday, Nov. 22; some author events have admission prices.

INFORMATION: Visit miamibookfair.com, or download the complete guide here www.miamibookfair.com/downloadable-guide

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