The American Zoo and Aquarium Association has set up a computer-based dating agency for orangutangs.

Designed to find male orangutangs the perfect mate, the 'Orangutang Species Survival Plan' uses computer analysis based on genetics, demographics and behaviour.

Unlike traditional computer dating services, the system also locates extra partners for the animals, as pairs usually split up after having babies.

The project has been designed to tip the balance in the fight to keep the species from extinction.

Figures from 1997 revealed that there were only 88 Bornean, 127 Sumatran, and 50 hybrid orangutans in existence.

One happy customer, Berani the Sumatran orangutang, will shortly leave Miami Metrozoo to meet his newfound mate at Audubon Zoo in New Orleans.

In an interview with the Miami Herald Ron Magill, Metrozoo's communications director, said: "A glorified computer dating service is what it is."