Orangutans to communicate by Internet

Amsterdam - Orangutans in the Apenheul Primate Park near Apeldoorn in the

western Netherlands will soon be able to communicate by means of an internet

connection with their counterparts in a park on Borneo in Indonesia.

An Apenheul spokeswoman said the aim of the project was to draw attention to

the possibility that there would soon be no orangutans in the wild.

'We are 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,' she said.

She said the remaining orangutans in the wild in Indonesia were under threat

from deforestation.

Apenheul, spread over 12 hectares, was a revolutionary concept when it was

set up in 1971, allowing primates and people to interact in an open

environment, although with strict rules against touching or feeding the animals.

(c) 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur Amsterdam -