Kenya’s last living male white rhino joins dating site Tinder
A screen grab of Sudan’s Tinder profile.
Dating site Tinder is known for hosting a lot of “horny” people, and it just got its “horniest” member yet.
A profile for Sudan, the last living male northern White Rhino, appeared on the popular app recently.
The magnificent beast—who’s in dire need to find a mate—is his kind’s final hope to avoid extinction.
“I don’t mean to be too forward, but the fate of my species literally depends on me,” his profile reads.
“I perform well under pressure. I like to eat grass and chill in the mud. No problems. 6 ft tall and 5,000 pounds if it matters.”
Meanwhile, the seemingly humorous gag is actually a joint campaign of Kenya’s Ol Pejeta Conservancy and Tinder to raise awareness of Sudan’s grave situation. The group also hopes to elicit funds to support efforts that can save the northern white rhino from total annihilation, according to The Huffington Post.
“We partnered with [the conservancy] to give the most eligible bachelor in the world a chance to meet his match,” Matt David, Tinder’s head of communications, described the cause in a statement.
Sudan’s profile has been live on the app since Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) and is available in 140 countries.
Instead of setting up a chat box, those who match with the rhino will receive a message and a link where they can donate.
Sudan is one of the three remaining Northern white rhinos is the world, along with females 17-year-old Satu and 27-year-old Najin.
Scientists have had a hard time trying to mate the animals, and have resorted to use Sudan’s sperm to artificially fertilize an egg from the two females.
“We tried everything to get them to mate naturally,” said Elodie Sampere, the marketing manager at Kenya’s Ol Pejeta conservancy, told the news outlet.
She added: “We removed them from a zoo environment, which was not conducive to natural instincts, and put them in a semi-wild environment. There were a couple of matings, but it never resulted in a pregnancy.”
As of this writing, the three remaining white rhinos are heavily secured in one location, as poachers continue to be a threat to their species. Khristian Ibarrola /ra
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