At first glance, the giraffe area at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo might not seem an exceedingly romantic spot.

Granted, it boasts a lovely location, high on a hill, with Colorado Springs spread out below. But when you get down to it, it’s just a big patch of dirt surrounded by a stone wall. And the inside enclosure, where the ruminants ruminate when it’s too cold to go outside, is, well, stinky.

But together they compose one of the world’s most renowned settings for giraffe love.

With 194 successful births since 1954, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo claims one of the most successful giraffe-breeding programs anywhere.

It helps that it has a lot of giraffes to start with. The 20 reticulated giraffes residing at the zoo make up the largest collection of that subspecies in any zoo, according to Katie Borremans, public-relations manager.

It also helps that there is no breeding season; giraffes can start up a relationship at any time of the year.

Still, there must be some magic in the rarefied air up on that hillside, right? Something in the crackers that zoo visitors can buy — three for a dollar — and feed the giraffes?

Not really, said Jason Bredahl, the zoo’s resident giraffe expert and head matchmaker.

Bredahl said zoo staffers don’t do anything special to put giraffes in an amorous mood. No romantic dinners, no weekend getaways.

Bredahl’s magic formula is no frills: Put a couple of females together with one of the zoo’s two breeding males.

In fact, the Cheyenne Mountain giraffes don’t even get any privacy.

“It’s nature. Sometimes it’s just right out there” for visitors and other giraffes alike to see, Bredahl said.

They do separate moms-to- be when they are about to give birth. Giraffes give birth standing up, which can mean a 5-foot fall for the baby. So zoo staffers try to soften the landing with sand or extra straw.

Bredahl said in his 11 years at the zoo, there has been only one stillbirth, and no mothers have died giving birth — nothing to mar Cheyenne Mountain’s quiet progress and stabilization of the giraffe population.

There are nine recognized giraffe subspecies, although recent evidence suggests some of those may be distinct species.

However they’re related, Africa’s giraffes have one thing in common: They have suffered from things humans do, such as conducting wars, poaching, reducing their habitat.

As a result, giraffe populations have shrunk throughout Africa. In 1996, for example, it was estimated that only 50 West African giraffes remained in Niger, according to Scientific American.

But the magazine reported last year that conservation measures in that nation are working, and as of 2009, there were more than 200 West African giraffes in Niger.

A lot of the Cheyenne Mountain giraffes have spent their entire lives at that zoo. So they form relationships with one another and tend to be comfortable with zoo staffers.

That may be one reason males at the zoo often pay attention to the babies, Bredahl said. He can’t say they realize they are dads to the knock- kneed little creatures.

“But they definitely show interest in them,” he said.

That said, even slightly domesticated male giraffes aren’t all that different from their counterparts in the wild.

“Males are just looking for food and females,” Bredahl said.

When they find them, there’s not a lot of romance, though there can be serious necking, Bredahl said.

“Sometimes they’ll rub necks before and after,” he said.

Bredahl said that often, when a female giraffe is looking for love, she’ll signal that by urinating in front of a male. Apparently that is the giraffe equivalent of Sinatra and candlelight because, Bredahl said, it rarely fails.

One male at the zoo has fathered 10 calves, which sounds impressive until you hear about Laikipia, the late, great father of 34.

Bredahl said Laikipia — who lived into his mid-20s, a ripe old age for a giraffe — wasn’t especially good-looking and didn’t have more straw and crackers than other males.

“He was just good at that specific aspect of being with a female,” Bredahl said.

Still, he said, there were a couple of females for whom Laikipia’s magic didn’t work.

“They just didn’t want to breed with him,” he said.

And that pretty much sums up the mystery of attraction that befuddles zoo breeders and snuffs out would-be courtships the world over. Doesn’t matter if you live in a stylish condo and make good money or you’re 18 feet tall and irregularly spotted, it’s still the same — in love, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

-Karen Auge