Orangutans Find Love through 'Tinder' Mating Approach

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There are millions of people around the world using the notable dating app, Tinder. Little do people know that now, animals such as orangutans also utilize the dating app idea to find their mate as well.

According to The Guardian, a Dutch zoo, Apenheul Primate Park in the Netherlands wants their 11-year-old orangutan, Samboja to find her mate. The zoo then provides Samboja with a tablet that shows pictures of eligible candidates vying for her love.

The sign whether Samboja likes the male is that whether she would pay longer attention to the image or video as CNet identified. The reason for this research dubbed as “Tinder for Orangutans” is finding the right mate so that its travel from other countries just to mate with other female apes across the globe wouldn’t be wasted.

“Often, animals have to be taken back to the zoo they came from without mating” as the zoo’s behavioral biologist, Thomas Bionda mentioned. Since things don’t go well when a male and female first meet, the zoo aspires to increase the successful rate of mating amid circumstances as Bionda stated.

Yet, this research is just a part of a much bigger project by Apenheul and the University of Leiden. The main goal of the collaboration is to prioritize animal’s emotions particular on orangutan and bonobos. The study then allows the two species to choose answers on a tablet through tapping a dot that corresponds to their answer.

CBS News also reported that a psychologist at the University of Leiden, Evy van Berlo noted the study that included orangutans and bonobos to be quite successful since the species responded to images with “positive stimuli.” Yet, no reports have been announced upon the success on whom Samboja desired.

Amid the research idea, scientists were having a tough time finding a touchscreen hard enough to withstand Samboja’s rage of attention. Thus, results from the research were just a few smashed tablets as stated.