First "Facebook" account for an ape - first online Orangutan sensation in Zoo in Vienna

In early December 2009, the female Orangutan Nonja is the first ape worldwide to have it’s own Facebook account. And the account is absolutely stunning.

Many photographs of the ape’s everyday life are to be found there, taken and uploaded onto Facebook my Nonja herself.

This is made possible thanks to the all-new ST 1000 provided by Samsung, the first and only digital camera worldwide that can establish a Wi-Fi connection with platforms such as Facebook, Flickr, YouTube etc. and still is as easy to use as a child’s toy. Well, actually an ape’s toy in this special case.

Nonja, born at Schönbrunn Zoo in 1976, was raised by a local stock broker and is therefore already familiar with human environment. She is already famous for her artful painting skills and has already created more than 250 paintings with a brush and paint. One of her paintings even sold for more than $2,000! Now, Nonja has ”upgraded” to the third millennium and has swapped her paint brush for the Samsung camera.

For now, she is communicating via http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nonja/190010092116.

The Facebook account is operated by Schönbrunn Zoo. CEO Dr. Dagmar Schratter said:

"Diversified stimulus of our animals is very important to us: We achieve this on one hand with special toys and on the other hand by hiding their food, so that the animals are encouraged to find and obtain it, just like in their natural environment. And Orangutans are especially intelligent and also very curious. As such it is only natural for them to have accepted the cameras so well. As the world-wide oldest zoo, we are proud to have made such a big step forward regarding our up-to-dateness with Nonja’s Facebook account. Social networks are constantly gaining in importance and by these means, we have found a great opportunity to integrate new and very young channels with our communication."

- Samsung is well-known for finding new and unusual ways, especially if they can offer a great deal of fun to actors as well as the observers. We look forward to this project with Schönbrunn Zoo and are very curious about the results - according to Gerald Reitmayr, head of the consumer electronics department, Samsung Electronics.

The details from popular Nonja's everyday life can also be found on the following links:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nonja/190010092116
http://www.youtube.com/nonjaatfacebook
http://www.flickr.com/photos/samsung-ce/sets/72157622926305082/
www.samsung.at
www.zoovienna.at