Online dating for orangutans planned

? Zookeepers in the Netherlands are planning to match Dutch and Indonesian orangutans over the Internet, believing that an online dating service could help determine whether lonely orangutans would be compatible mates.

The first step will be a romantic dinner.

“We are going to set up an Internet connection between Indonesia and Apeldoorn so that the apes can see each other and, by means of pressing a button, be able to give one another food, for example,” said Anouk Ballot, a spokeswoman for the Apenheul ape park in the central Dutch city of Apeldoorn.

The chance of two orangutans actually mating as a result of the online interaction was small due to the problem of transporting them between the Netherlands and Indonesia. “But I wouldn’t rule it out completely,” Ballot told The Associated Press.

Work is still needed to set up the Internet connection. “We need to find ape-proof cables and screens,” Ballot said, adding that the zoo hopes to have the orangutans online by the end of this year or early 2007.