Attention,amorous guys: Killarney's an Australian cutie, but woo her with care.

The feisty gal¹ 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 captivity². 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, promising³ 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 testy⁴ process.

Zoos won't be required to document the turn-ons and turn-offs of each animal in Zoological Information Management Systems, a collaboration⁵ between about 150 zoos and aquariums⁶ 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 forth⁷, 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 hormones⁸".

Around since the 1980s in paperback⁹ 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 analyzed¹⁰ and converted into a "master plan" for breeding.

 求爱者们注意了：追求澳洲“小美人”基拉尼时，可要小心一点。

这个脾气暴躁的“大小姐”曾经打跑了一个试图靠近她的求偶者，还有一次刚与一个“相亲者”见面就对人家不理不睬。

不过基拉尼的朋友们可丝毫不气馁，为了给基拉尼找到“如意郎君”，他们坚持更新基拉尼的在线档案。位于美国南卡罗莱纳州里弗邦克斯动物园的管理员们说，与很多同伴一样，这只考拉小姐要想找到“意中人”，可能要寄希望于网络配对服务了。

就像人类通过网络交友，如今笼子里的动物们也能通过所谓的“血统簿”体验网上相亲服务。这些数据库包含动物的性别、年龄和体重等信息，目前有200多家动物园在全国甚至全世界范围内使用这一数据库。

如今，一个名为“动物信息管理系统”的新软件可以让动物管理员们更方便地获得动物的数据资料、帮助它们实现更快配对，而且可在一个类似人类交友网站的页面上详细了解到某个动物的秉性特点，以备在出现不投机状况时派上用场。

动物园不必向“动物信息管理系统”提供每个动物何时发情或不发情的信息。“动物信息管理系统”是美国约150家动物园和水族馆合作开发的一个系统，有望在一至两年后被广泛应用。

据圣地亚哥动物学会的物种部负责人鲍勃•威斯介绍，该软件还能让动物园的管理员们更方便地了解到详细的物种信息，目前这些信息只能在动物园管理手册上看到，大多数信息都是通过电子邮件互相交流。

被公认为“动物信息管理系统”专家的威斯说，尽管动物园里没有烛光，也没有浪漫的音乐，但想让动物们进入状态可以有很多办法，比如，中国的繁殖专家们就采用让大熊猫观看同伴交配录像的办法唤起了它们的本能。

威斯说：“有些青蛙只有在模拟下雨的环境中才会出来繁殖；而有些青蛙只需听见下雨声或雷电声，那就是刺激它们荷尔蒙分泌的东西。”

上世纪80年代，动物血统信息都记录在纸上，如今大多数信息都进入了电脑数据库。动物管理员们在“血统簿”中记录动物的家谱、病史、年龄和体重等基本信息，然后将这些信息传输到一个数据中心。研究人员对这些信息进行分析后，会形成一套整体的动物繁殖规划。