No Kidding; Female Orangutans Are Using Tinder to Find Their Mate

Looking for a date this Valentines’ day? You’re not alone. As romance sweeps you off your feet this 14 Feb, it is no different in this Dutch Zoo.

Female orangutans are also looking for a mate, and just like me all the single ladies out there, she has decided to hop on Tinder. Yeap, you’ve heard me. Even female Orangutans are using Tinder to find a mate. 


Tinder for Orangutans 

Image: www.theguardian.com

If you aren’t familiar with how Tinder works, a person will usually choose someone based on their profile, even before they meet. Swipe right, and you know you’ve found yourself an interest. 

In hopes to increase the breeding chances of a female orangutan, a Dutch zoo came up with a four-year experiment called “Tinder for Orangutans”. It works exactly the same, with the female orangutan choosing a preferred mate on a touchscreen before they are introduced. 

According to Thomas Bionda, a behavioural biologist at the zoo, things don’t always go well when a male and female first meet. Often, animals have to be taken back to the zoo they came from without mating.

Since the male orangutan could come from as far away as Singapore, the zoo hopes to increase the chances of a successful encounter. This would also help them to gain greater insight into how female orangutans make their mating choices. 

Image result for orangutan puns
Image: motifake.com

The research is part of a broader programme looking at the role of emotions in animal relationships, the biologist said. “Emotion is of huge evolutionary importance. If you don’t interpret an emotion correctly in the wild, it can be the end of you.” 

Evy van Berlo, an evolutionary psychologist, stated that the main problem has been building a touchscreen tough enough to withstand their attention. While this is completely digital and they won’t be able to engage their sense of smell, usually with the orangutans, they work with the mindset “what you see is what you get.”  

How about us humans? Imagine if whatever we see is what we’ll be getting, I bet all the cute guys/girls will be taken. Luckily for us, beauty is skin deep… *Swipes left* 


Read this article in the Goody Feed App now! It’s fast, seamless and ad-free! Download now and stand a chance to win $50 weekly!
iOS: https://goo.gl/a0FZdy
Android: https://goo.gl/WlJzV8

Featured Image: www.theguardian.com

This article was first published on goodyfeed.com