Even Birds Do It

One of the major disadvantages of the Internet explosion has been the gradual breakdown of community and human-to-human contact. With everything at our fingertips, humans are slowly losing their ability to live in the real world and to interact with each other without the use of a keyboard and screen.

Perversely, humans who spend most of their lives online look to the Internet to help solve their Web-inspired loneliness. Online dating agencies have exploded exponentially with the number of lonely hearts looking for love on the information superhighway, in turn creating a virtual mating community for those who don't get out as much as they should.

Humans isolating themselves with technology

Some experts have lamented the fact that the more technical our lives become, the more difficult we are making things for ourselves. Some even talk of a critical mass when technology hinders us to such an extent that the only option left is to return to our most basic selves, essentially going back to nature and doing what comes naturally to the animals, birds and bees.

These anthropologists, however, fail to realize that the beasts of the field also have their problems. While they don’t have to deal with Internet-related isolation, they do sometimes need a helping hand to reproduce.

Unable to type with clunky claws and bended beaks, parrots especially have a hard time finding a mate. Which is where German parrot whisperer Rita Ohnhäuser steps in.

Ohnhäuser recently celebrated bringing together her 2,000th pair of parrots through her avian dating agency based in Schönefeld just outside Berlin.

Satisfying work finding mates for life

"I realized there was a gap in the market because I had so many people asking me about finding a partner for their birds," the bird sanctuary owner said.

"My work is very satisfying, as parrots, like swans, will mate for life and remain faithful -- parrot pairs stay together until the end."

"It is really sweet to watch," she added. "They spend every minute of every day together, the male looking after the female and feeding her and sitting together on their perches."

People can learn from parrot courtships

Some birds, however, are quicker to jump on the monogamy wagon than others.

"I don't have to do much other than make the introductions, some birds experience love at first sight, while others make a really careful choice before entering a relationship and need to be talked into it with a complicated courtship," Ohnhäuser said.

"It can take up to three months of being given the best bird seed or even building an elaborate nest to entice a reluctant partner."

If we humans are forced to abandon our hermetically-sealed, Web-connected lives in favor of the great outdoors in a bid to save our race, there can be few better blueprints for survival than that.