Online zoo attracts millions of viewers

Baidu Online Zoo, launched by Baidu Inc. and Beijing Zoo attracted more than 3 million page views on June 1, representing six months' visitor numbers for the animal park itself.

Beijing users accounted for just 13.87 percent of visitors while the rest were from other provinces. More than 80 percent of users were adults, aged from 30 to 39, and the penguin ranked as the most popular animal, followed by the giant panda.

The project is China's first online zoo offering netizens live broadcasts of animals. Six animal sites are currently open, including penguins, giant pandas, elephants, alpacas, ring-tailed lemurs and giraffes.

Such was the demand from visitors on June 1 the online zoo used a 3G China Unicom network to upload data but the cloud player automatically shifted to a recorded broadcast to avoid long delays. Baidu is now cooperating with Beijing Zoo and China Unicom to lay fiber optic cables to open more venues and offer more services.

As well as searching keywords such as "online zoo" and "Baidu Zoo" to gain access to the website (www.baike.baidu.com/zoo), other keywords such as "penguin" and "giant panda" are also linked to BaiduBaike (Baiduencyclopedia items) which provides a live broadcast of animals. Baidu Zoo will initially remain open until June 7.