A LONELY giraffe has found his perfect match thanks to an onlineanimal dating service.
Thorn, a 10-year-old Rothschild giraffe from Chester Zoo,uncovered his dream date Dagmar, a four-year-old from Denmark aftera long search on a computerized matchmaking service - and shearrived just in time for Valentine's Day last week.
It is an internet dating story with a happy ending after a Europe-wide search for a mate revealed the perfect genetic pairing.
Lizzie Bowen, senior giraffe keeper said: "We put his geneticdetails into an online database and thankfully it managed to turnout a perfect match for him.
"This species of giraffe is very rare and is on the ICUN red-list of endangered species, meaning careful breeding programmes inzoos are vital for their long-term survival. However, finding andgetting together a good breeding pair, is very difficult indeed."
Just like the digital dating services that pair up people, thedatabase contains information on gender, age, height, weight as wella page out of most human dating sites and details of an animal'spersonality.
"Dagmar has been described as being rather playful and pretty. Sothat should suit Thorn down to the ground," added Lizzie.
The super-sized love story is seen as especially good news asthere are now less than 670 Rothschild giraffes left in the wild,following the loss of their traditional homeland in Kenya andUganda.
And Chester Zoo has enjoyed success in breeding the species withbaby Tula, who weighed in at 56kgs, being born in November lastyear.
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