Zoos rethink matchmaking tactics for endangered species_美文

Zoos rethink matchmaking tactics for endangered species

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Like online dating sites for endangered species, many zoos use computerized matchmaking to mate animals in captivity in hopes of saving some of the world's most vulnerable creatures.

The tools of the trade range from frozen panda sperm through genetic databases to ultrasounds for hefty rhinos.

But like dating everywhere, it can be expensive, complicated and doesn't always work.

After more than three decades of efforts, some experts are taking a fresh look at modern breeding tactics. Zoos, they say, cannot keep pace with the high costs of shipping animals from one facility to another, as the loss of wild habitat pushes more creatures to the brink of extinction.

A movement to improve captive breeding began in the late 1970s, when scientists realized that some zoo-held baby giraffes, gazelles and deer were more likely to die if inbred.

"That really caused a sea change in zoos because they realized they had to be better at managing captive populations," said David Wildt, head of the Center for Species Survival at the Smithsonian National Zoo.

Today, survival plans exist for more than 500 species, including cheetahs, Asian elephants and black-footed ferrets.

The genetic data of captive specimens is fed into computers so scientists can determine the most diverse matches for each individual.

Sometimes the plans work, as for the scimitar-horned oryx, a graceful African antelope that was declared extinct in the wild in 2000 due to overhunting and habitat loss.