Calling all digital Dr. Doolittles: It's time to start talking with the animals online.

A consortium of great brains and famous names launched what it's calling the "Interspecies Internet" at the TED conference in Long Beach Thursday night. Their goal: facilitate the ability of animals around the world to communicate with us — and each other.

That might sound laughable but for two things. Firstly, the launch team is an impressive one. It includes Vint Cerf, one half of the team that set up the protocols for the original Internet; famed MIT tech guru Neal Gershenfeld; psychology professor and dolphin researcher Diana Reiss.

Oh yeah, and some musician and techie named Peter Gabriel (pictured above).

Secondly, the animal communication project is well underway. The odd quartet took to the TED stage to show off their research so far with animals that have shown self-awareness — that is, the ability to recognize themselves in the mirror.

Reiss has built a touchscreen keyboard for dolphins where smart cetaceans get to ask for various objects and announce their activities. And as crazy as it sounds, she received seed money Thursday to develop a touchscreen for dolphins.

Gabriel, who grew up on a farm and has long been fascinated by animal intelligence, demonstrated how smart chimps can be when it comes to making music. He showed an eye-opening video of a bonobo (one of our closest genetic relatives) jamming on a keyboard as Gabriel provided background music.

Introduced to the keyboard for the first time, the chimp immediately found a particular octave, then explored a tuneful set of notes within it to make a melody. She was even able to signal to her keeper that the song had a theme: "grooming."

“I work with a lot of musicians from around the world," Gabriel said. "Often we don’t have any common language at all. We sit behind our instruments and it’s a way to connect.

"What would happen if we could somehow find new interfaces – visual, audio — to allow us to communicate with the remarkable beings we share the planet with?"

Gershenfeld, who said he "lost it" when he saw Gabriel's video for the first time, demonstrated a live video conference with zoo animals and their keepers from around the world: orangutans in Waco, Texas, dolphins at the National Aquarium in Baltimore and elephants in Thailand.

Cerf, often called the father of the Internet, added his two cents: "we should not restrict the Internet to one species," he said. "Other species should be allowed to participate."

And just in case that didn't sound insane enough, Cerf added that such a system would help us prepare for a possible Interplanetary Internet, should humans ever make contact with alien species. (He's already working with NASA on standards for the Interplanetary Internet.)

The quartet admitted the whole idea was in its very early stages and that they were actively seeking suggestions. But given that Cerf is a Google vice president and chief evangelist for the company, can it be long before we see bonobos with Google Glass?

Photo courtesy of TED, James Duncan Davidson