Nonja

December 6, 2009 11:54 AM

Nonja, like many 33 year old Austrians, has been taking dozens of photos of herself, her friends, and her surroundings and posting them to facebook. She's got 41,000+ friends. What makes her special? She's an orangutan.

Nonja has tried her hand at painting, and now takes photos with a wi-fi enabled camera. Each shot is rewarded with a raisin.

A few favorites: Vladimir the alpha male, some wrinkly orangutan skin, licking the camera, a self portrait.

posted by fontophilic (33 comments total)

That is awesome. She takes better pictures than my 8 year old.
posted by TooFewShoes at 11:57 AM on December 6, 2009

Monkey see, monkey do.
posted by spoobnooble at 12:08 PM on December 6, 2009

a few more overexposed self-portraits at a weird angle and she's ready to have a MySpace page.
posted by qvantamon at 12:14 PM on December 6, 2009 [9 favorites]

I kind of feel like it's a viral for a camera brand...but maybe I'm just jaded. The photos of her holding the camera seem a little staged, in a "show off the kind of camera you're holding" way. It's pretty cool either way. Monkeys good.
posted by monkey!knife!fight! at 12:15 PM on December 6, 2009

friended her!
posted by liza at 12:15 PM on December 6, 2009

Next they are gonna give her a keyboard, right?

"She's got 41,000+ friends fans" ftfy.... there's a difference you facebook noob!!!
posted by HuronBob at 12:19 PM on December 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

"friended fanned her!"

if I have to correct one more of you about this, I'm gonna get mad!
posted by HuronBob at 12:20 PM on December 6, 2009

I had the same thought monkey!knife!fight!, as they mention "samsung camera" in every news story on this, and she gathered all these friends in < two weeks.
posted by dabitch at 12:20 PM on December 6, 2009

fans! fans! fears the HuronBob wrath
posted by dabitch at 12:21 PM on December 6, 2009

"she gathered all these friends fans..... "

now I'm mad!
posted by HuronBob at 12:22 PM on December 6, 2009

dabitch...saved by the time stamp!
posted by HuronBob at 12:23 PM on December 6, 2009

Yeah, the camera company is definitely getting some promotion from this, but they donated equipment and worked to develop the special case. Hope this doesn't leave an unpleasant taste for anyone. I found out about this in a genuinely "viral" fashion, friends of friends on facebook.
posted by fontophilic at 12:29 PM on December 6, 2009

Monkeys good

Apes are better. Great, even.
posted by device55 at 12:35 PM on December 6, 2009 [6 favorites]

It might be some sort of sponsorship deal, though. Not necessarily all staged.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 12:36 PM on December 6, 2009

Better to have friends! Beware!
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 1:07 PM on December 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

fan death..meh... search google and find " Results 1 - 10 of about 10,000,000 for murdered by friend"
posted by HuronBob at 1:13 PM on December 6, 2009

I just FRIENDED that MONKEY.
posted by Elmore at 1:16 PM on December 6, 2009 [2 favorites]

we know where you live, Elmore....

wait, no we don't, but, if we did...
posted by HuronBob at 1:34 PM on December 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

Orangutans are apes, not monkeys.
posted by neuron at 1:37 PM on December 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

ook! ook ook ook ook ook oooooook oook. ook.
posted by jenkinsEar at 1:43 PM on December 6, 2009 [4 favorites]

Great, yet another self absorbed orangutan with a FaceBook page.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 1:56 PM on December 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

Is there a 'Friends Only' section with lots of pictures of half-peeled bananas?
posted by jonmc at 1:59 PM on December 6, 2009 [3 favorites]

what i want to know is, can she travel in L-space?
posted by beepbeepboopboop at 2:17 PM on December 6, 2009 [4 favorites]

'Of course the apes don't care about the pictures, they are just an accidental side product,' zoo spokesman Gerhard Kasbauer said.

'They just know that when they press the button, a raisin pops out.'

This plus the virally aspect is making this pretty uninteresting.
posted by DU at 2:19 PM on December 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

Man! Where can I get a camera that dispenses raisins when you push the button? And can I fill it with something else, like maybe jellybeans?

My tumblarity would go through the damn roof.
posted by rifflesby at 3:07 PM on December 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

Become a fan and win a Samsung camera and two entrance tickets to the Schönbrunn Zoo every week!

Yeah, I feel a little cheated.
posted by dunkadunc at 4:05 PM on December 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

I love this as much as I love elephant painting, which is to say, A LOT.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 4:31 PM on December 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

It'd be much more interesting if she had a big 30" screen facing into her enclosure that she could see her photos in. I think it would help her develop as a photographer.
posted by sebastienbailard at 7:01 PM on December 6, 2009

From the article about her art:
"Nonja inherited his paints and carried on the good work, in spite of a boyfriend called Vladimir who eats her artwork if not locked away in his cage."

Typical.
posted by Sreiny at 8:22 PM on December 6, 2009 [3 favorites]

Monkey see, monkey do. Monkeys good.

a bunch of you are going to get your butts kicked by the librarian!
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 9:31 PM on December 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

Her pictures suck. She doesn't even know she's taking pictures, she just presses a button and it rewards her action with a raisin... and it shows.
posted by autoclavicle at 2:57 AM on December 7, 2009

...and posting them to facebook. She's got 41,000+ friends.

Now if she could only convince John Mellencamp to quit goddamn smoking, we'd be on to something.
posted by Shepherd at 5:39 AM on December 7, 2009

it's pretty depressing when a fucking monkey has a better facebook profile then you do. and more friends or fans or faveds or whatever the right word is.
posted by lester's sock puppet at 6:13 AM on December 7, 2009 [1 favorite]