This is Randi Hacker with another Postcard from Abroad from the KU Centers for Global and International Studies and Kansas African Studies.
What do you do when you’re the last male of your species and you’re looking for a mate? You create a Tinder profile. Or if you are a white rhino, you get someone to create a Tinder profile for you. Which is exactly what the Ol PeJeta Conservancy did for Sudan, the last male white rhino on Earth. Sudan lives at the Conservancy’s rhino sanctuary in Kenya. Though two female white rhinos live there with him, they’ve been unable to reproduce naturally. Since Sudan is already 43, time is running out to save the species. Happily, Sudan’s profile on the Tinder dating app has gone viral. The aim is not to reach white rhino bachelorettes but donors whose contributions will help scientists work out assisted reproductive procedures that will save white rhinos from extinction. So, not a “fun-raising” profile so much as a fundraising profile.
With thanks to Mackenzie Jones for this text, from the KU Center for Global and International Studies, this is Randi Hacker. Wish you were here.
