International zoo dating service.

Two months ago, scientists searching for a species of Chinese dolphin made a heartbreaking discovery: it was extinct. Zoo Atlanta, and other zoos around the world, are trying to keep that from happening with other species like giant pandas, tigers, and mountain gorillas.

They’ve come up with what is essentially an international zoo dating service.

The staff at Zoo Atlanta is hoping for rhino love in an effort to boost the population of black rhinos in zoos, and maybe eventually in the wild.

“Species survival plans really are an international dating service to build a rescue colony of animals for over 200 species that are threatened and endangered,” said Dennis Kelly, President and CEO of Zoo Atlanta.

SSP – Species Survival Plans – rank zoo animals for genetic purity, based on the number of relatives they have elsewhere in captivity. The higher the animals rank, the more eager curators are to put them together, wherever they are.

Zoo Atlanta has twenty species ranked in the SSP, the most famous of which is giant panda baby Mei Lan.

Though Mei Lan is receiving a lot of attention, the zoo actually is more concerned with Sumatran tigers – there are only 350 of them, while there are 1600 giant pandas in the wild. Only 50 or 60 Sumatran tigers are to be found in North American zoos.

“There’s more of the older animals in the population than younger animals at this point,” said Adam Stone, assistant curator at Zoo Atlanta.

“The prognosis isn’t good, which is why, again, our efforts to breed these animals are so fundamental and important to the population.

Zoo Atlanta has recently received a young Sumatran tiger pair they hope to breed soon.

With orangutans, though, the zoo is number one.

“We have the number-one ranked breeding pair of orangutans in the country,” said Stone.

The species survival plan will soon go worldwide, improving the chances of finding animals that are a good genetic match.

Animals born at Zoo Atlanta – like Mei Lan – will likely be sent to other facilities around the country and the world, places where they’ll have the best chance to add to the population with healthy offspring.