Critter Cupids from the Smithsonian's National Zoo

Burrowing below the ground, naked mole-rats build mammoth mazes to house their colonies. Tell your beloved that you’d like to get lost together.

Name a naked mole-rat.

Have a cherished someone who’s been with you to the brink and beyond? Bestow his or her name on one of our black-footed ferrets—which came back from the brink of extinction to repopulate the prairies.

Name a black-footed ferret.

Feel like lying in your sweetie’s arms? A cuttlefish valentine, with all those tempting tentacles, might be just the hint you need.

Name a cuttlefish.

Unlike most roaches, Madagascar hissing cockroaches are often kept as beloved pets. When touched or threatened, they hiss so loudly that they can be heard 12 feet away. What better way to proclaim your love out loud?

Name a cockroach.

Do you have a family member who’s one in a million? Honor him or her with a leafcutter ant, a critter that lives in mammoth families that work together to grow their own food.

Name a leafcutter ant.

Poison dart frogs have vivid colors and elaborate mating rituals. Name one of these cuties after your beloved as a way of saying, “Take a leap and be mine.”

Name a strawberry dart frog.

Is there a fire in your belly for someone special? Let him or her know by naming a Bombina orientalis for the bombshell in your life!

Name a fire-bellied toad.

Name one of our most romantic animals after the one who makes you blush. He or she will be tickled pink with this creative gift.

Name a flamingo.

Would you follow your love through thick and thin? Then tell the one driving you crazy how much you care by naming a red-bellied piranha in his or her honor. Smitten red-bellied piranhas tango with their mates through a tangle of obstacles in the Amazon River.

Name a piranha.

Diamonds may be a girl’s best friend, but they break the bank pretty fast. Slither into a loved one’s heart by naming a rattlesnake after him or her.

Name an Eastern diamondback.