MAYOR'S MONKEY BUSINESS; RIORDAN SEEKS CHIMP'S FATHER.

Byline: Lisa Weiss Daily News Staff Writer

The paternity of the Los Angeles Zoo's newborn chimpanzee, Toshi, remained a mystery Thursday despite the sleuthing of Detective Richard Riordan.

The mayor was at the zoo Thursday to help debut endangered reptiles that were confiscated from smugglers by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. But he couldn't resist a side trip to the chimpanzee exhibit to visit the zoo's other new addition, who was born over the weekend.

Handlers didn't know the mother, Yoshiko, was pregnant and don't have a clue to who the father is.

``I'm going to find the father and have the city sue him for child support,'' Riordan said jokingly as he joined other zoo visitors to look in on mother and chimp.

The mayor also joked that he knows the identity of the father: Toto. That chimp is his favorite at the zoo, a Riordan spokeswoman said.

Zoo officials, however, are less sure. They said they a DNA test will determine whom baby Toshi calls Daddy, but that won't happen until mama Yoshi allows handlers to get close enough to her baby, said zoo director Manuel Mollinedo.

``We have DNA samples from all of the adults, but we won't be able to get one from the baby for three or four months, when she can be apart from her mother,'' he said.

Mollinedo said the father could be a juvenile chimpanzee that was not believed to be capable of siring or another chimp that had undergone a faulty vasectomy.

The confiscated reptiles, such as Komodo dragons with their prehistoric appearance and Madagascar radiated tortoises with brilliantly colored shells, are prized as additions to private menageries. These reptiles, on loan to the zoo, can fetch up to $30,000 on the black market.

Mollinedo explained to Riordan the Komodo dragon's habit of eating its own kind.

``Kind of like the City Council?'' he quipped.

``I didn't say that,'' Riordan replied.

The reptiles are indigenous to specific, isolated habitats in far-flung places around the globe, and their species are nearing extinction. Now that they are at the zoo, they can be bred with animals at other zoos.

They are staying at the zoo until the criminal cases against the smugglers have been decided.

Visitors can see the animals in surroundings zoo officials say will be improved with money from Proposition CC, a citywide measure that passed in November.

``It's kind of embarrassing,'' Mollinedo said. ``When you see our reptile house, it's very run-down. It's very decrepit.

``In two years, we are going to have one of the best reptile houses in the United States.''

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2 photos

PHOTO (1) Mayor Richard Riordan tries to hang on to a false gavial from Borneo on Thursday at the L.A. Zoo.

(2) New mother Yoshiko displays her teeth while cradling her baby, Toshi, at the zoo's chimpanzee exhibit.

Michael Owen Baker/Daily News