They don't call it la petit mort for nothing.

A two-year-old virgin tiger named Connor accidentally killed his lover — an older, Bronx-born tigress named Tiga Tahun — after their sex got a little too rough.

The fatal hickey occurred before a zookeeper was able to intervene. Zoo officials have emphasized that the bite was from lust, and not an attack.

But Connor's first time likely won't be his last.

The two-year-old is now the only Malayan tiger left in the San Diego zoo's Tiger River exhibit, and the species is endangered, with only around 500 animals left in the wild.

Zoo spokesperson said that although aggressive behavior during mating is not unusual for tigers, more mature animals learn how to keep their sex from becoming lethal. It's even happened in zoos before — in 2011, a female Malayan tiger killed her mate during sex in an El Paso zoo.

[image via AP]