nice idea... posted by

Orangutans use iPads at zoos

Orangutan with -ipad

We do love our gadgets and electronics. But apparently we aren’t the only ones.

Orangutans in some zoos have been using iPads as enrichment to reduce boredom. For the past six months, these orange primates at Milwaukee zoo have been playing games and watching videos on Apple’s iPad. One of them, a 31-year old orangutan named MJ, is a big fan of David Attenborough’s nature documentaries.

Zookeepers and and the charity Orangutan Outreach are now considering setting up WiFi, cameras and Skype so that the orangutans from different zoos can watch each other. Doing so would serve several purposes. Orangutan Outreach hopes that by seeing these sentient, self-aware, and intelligent animals playing with the same gadgets as us, we’ll be more inclined to support their charity and also to take better care of the environment (Indonesian orangutans are critically endangered due to human activity). And perhaps it would create relationships and communication between different primates who otherwise would never know each other existed. This kind of enrichment has some amazing possibilities to it.

1 Comment

  • “it would create relationships and communication between different primates who otherwise would never know each other existed”

    Are you sure you want to do this?

    Makes me think of the ‘Planet of the Apes’. : )

comments powered by Disqus

Side Advert

Write For Us

Personnel

Managing Editor:
Nigel Powell

Associate Editor:
Caitlyn Muncy
Associate Editor:
Dan Ferris
Ecological Editor:
Debra Atlas
Technology Editor:
Fritz Effenberger
Asian Editor:
Hu Ping
Reviews Editor:
Kevin Evans

FB Like Box