LANSING, MI – Love is in the air for a red panda named Doofah.

Hopefully.

Potter Park Zoo in Lansing is welcoming Doofah in hopes that he may be breed with the facility’s female red panda, Maliha, sometime in 2020. He was born at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse on June 21, 2018.

The two red pandas are a recommended breeding pair from the Species Survival Plan of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Breeding recommendations come to AZA accredited zoos from a group of animal experts who find the best genetic matches for the species.

Potter Park Zoo in Lansing welcomes 5-year-old male snow leopard, Taza

The mission of the SSP is to maintain healthy and genetically diverse populations of animals living within the 236 AZA accredited zoos and to enhance conservation of this species in the wild.

Rupert Jr., Potter Park Zoo’s previous male, was transferred to the Pueblo Zoo in Pueblo, Colorado, based on a recommendation from the SSP to pair him with a new female.

Rupert Jr. fathered two cubs at Potter Park Zoo in 2016.

Red panda are native to Asia, from Nepal to the Sichuan province in China and are currently endangered.