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A female Koala named Killarney looks down from her perch at the Riverbanks Zoo and Garden in South Carolina, US on July 31.
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Attention,amorous guys: Killarney's an Australian cutie, but woo her with care.
The feisty gal once swatted at a beau who got a little close, and gave another poor fellow the cold shoulder during their introduction.
Undaunted, Killarney's friends keep updating her online profile in the hope of finding her Mr Right. Like many of her contemporaries, the koala might find her dream date waiting somewhere in the files of a computerized matchmaking service, keepers at the Riverbanks Zoo in South Carolina, US, theorize.
Just like the digital dating services that pair up people, so-called studbooks are used to match most animals held in captivity. The databases containing information on sex, age and weight are used by more than 200 zoos nationally and some internationally.
Now, new software is going to the Web, promising more easily accessible data, faster matches and - in a page out of the most particular of human dating sites - details on an animal's personality to ease what can be a testy process.
Zoos won't be required to document the turn-ons and turn-offs of each animal in Zoological Information Management Systems, a collaboration between about 150 zoos and aquariums that's a year or two away from wide distribution.
At the very least, though, the software will give zookeepers better access to species-level details currently found only in zoo husbandry manuals that now are mostly e-mailed back and forth, said Bob Wiese, director of collections for the Zoological Society of San Diego.
While there's no candlelight or romantic music being played in the back rooms of zoos, there are endless tricks used to get the animals in the mood, said Wiese, widely considered the authority on ZIMS. In China, breeding experts have claimed success putting giant pandas in the mood by showing them images of other pandas mating.
"There are some frogs that you have to simulate rain for or they won't come out and breed," Wiese said. "Other frogs, they just need to hear the sound of rain and the sound of lightening and thunder. That's what sets off their hormones".
Around since the 1980s in paperback form, most of today's studbooks are in computerized databases. Basic information such as family tree, medical history, age and weight are entered by studbook keepers, then sent to a central location where the data is analyzed and converted into a "master plan" for breeding.
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(Agencies)
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求愛者們注意了：追求澳洲“小美人”基拉尼時，可要小心一點。
這個脾氣暴躁的“大小姐”曾經打跑了一個試圖靠近她的求偶者，還有一次剛與一個“相親者”見面就對人家不理不睬。
不過基拉尼的朋友們可絲毫不氣餒，為了給基拉尼找到“如意郎君”，他們堅持更新基拉尼的在線檔案。位于美國南卡羅萊納州里弗邦克斯動物園的管理員們說，與很多同伴一樣，這只考拉小姐要想找到“意中人”，可能要寄希望于網絡配對服務了。
就像人類通過網絡交友，如今籠子里的動物們也能通過所謂的“血統簿”體驗網上相親服務。這些數據庫包含動物的性別、年齡和體重等信息，目前有200多家動物園在全國甚至全世界范圍內使用這一數據庫。
如今，一個名為“動物信息管理系統”的新軟件可以讓動物管理員們更方便地獲得動物的數據資料、幫助它們實現更快配對，而且可在一個類似人類交友網站的頁面上詳細了解到某個動物的秉性特點，以備在出現不投機狀況時派上用場。
動物園不必向“動物信息管理系統”提供每個動物何時發情或不發情的信息。“動物信息管理系統”是美國約150家動物園和水族館合作開發的一個系統，有望在一至兩年后被廣泛應用。
據圣地亞哥動物學會的物種部負責人鮑勃?威斯介紹，該軟件還能讓動物園的管理員們更方便地了解到詳細的物種信息，目前這些信息只能在動物園管理手冊上看到，大多數信息都是通過電子郵件互相交流。
被公認為“動物信息管理系統”專家的威斯說，盡管動物園里沒有燭光，也沒有浪漫的音樂，但想讓動物們進入狀態可以有很多辦法，比如，中國的繁殖專家們就采用讓大熊貓觀看同伴交配錄像的辦法喚起了它們的本能。
威斯說：“有些青蛙只有在模擬下雨的環境中才會出來繁殖；而有些青蛙只需聽見下雨聲或雷電聲，那就是刺激它們荷爾蒙分泌的東西。”
上世紀80年代，動物血統信息都記錄在紙上，如今大多數信息都進入了電腦數據庫。動物管理員們在“血統簿”中記錄動物的家譜、病史、年齡和體重等基本信息，然后將這些信息傳輸到一個數據中心。研究人員對這些信息進行分析后，會形成一套整體的動物繁殖規劃。
（英語點津姍姍編輯）
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