Today is sort of rainy out, so we wanted to enrich the chimpanzees with some indoor activity. Sometimes we play the TV for them, which some folks seem to really enjoy. We also know that the chimps like to watch themselves in mirrors, so I thought they might be interested in “Photo Booth,” which is an App on the iPad (and it’s also on most Mac computers) where you can take pictures of yourself. Foxie and Burrito seemed to think it was pretty cool, and I’m glad we were able to come up with some fun rainy day enrichment.
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I saw an article recently about a zoo using iPads in fake tree trunks as enrichment in the Orangutan enclosure. Do you think these guys would actually use an iPad or a touchscreen (like touching it to make the pictures change)?
I remember that article, too! I think that these guys might possibly be interested in playing with an iPad, but I also know that chimps are fairly destructive with their toys sometimes. If we were to put something around the iPad strong enough to prevent them from breaking it, then they probably wouldn’t be able to touch the screen. Maybe eventually we’ll have a way for them to interact with one, but for now, I’d say that they would just break it unfortunately.
It did get their attention and curiosity! Don’t you wonder what they are thinking about it? Thanks, Debbie.
I can’t get inside their heads to know exactly what they were thinking, but they reacted to it similarly to they way they react to mirrors, so my guess is they saw it as a mirror (but in HD!)
brilliant idea ! chimps are so nosy , Mr B and Foxie couldn’t resist a lookie at what was happening behind them as well 🙂
How Fun!! I loved the intense look on Foxie’s face. And Burrito just had to keep looking back at the IPad. I wonder who was having more fun… the chimps or the caregivers? LOL
The caregivers did have a lot of fun. 😉
How wonderful! The Milwaukee Co Zoo started an iPad enrichment program with its’ primates when one was donated to the gorilla keeper. A volunteer donated 2 more iPads so the orangutan keeper and bonobo keeper have one too. We are working with Richard Zimmerman from Orangutan Outreach to build a consortium where other zoos and sanctuaries can share information to help the enrichment of these animals. Click here for more info: http://redapes.org/apps4apes/about and http://redapes.org/apps4apes. Please contact Rich to get connected!
By coincidence, here’s an article about the program at the Milwaukee Zoo —
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/11/14/2773288/zoo-orangutans-discover-the-ipad.html
Marie, I thought it fascinating that Burrito and Foxie turned around at the same time, to take a look at what was going on. By the way, what was going on behind them? I imagine research has been done on chimpanzee language but do all chimps use the same calls and alarms. For i.e., if chimps at Gombe heard what Burrito and Foxie did would they have similar reactions?
I think that each individual chimpanzee has their own voice so to speak, but yes there are general vocalizations that are fairly universal. Food grunts, pant hoots (anything exciting), pant grunts (greeting/reassurance), alarm calls, threat barks, screams, nest grunts, etc are recognizable across all chimps. And although there might some variation (e.g., Jody’s “dinosaur” happy food noise) it’s still understood by other chimps. Sometimes we’ve played videos of wild chimps for the Cle Elum 7, and if there’s pant hooting or alarm calls, they do turn their attention to the TV and react as though those chimps are in person. For instance, they might get pilo erect (hair standing on end, a sign of excitement) or vocalize along with the chimps in the documentary.
In this video, the other chimps were getting excited about lunch—Steph and Katelyn were in the kitchen getting veggies ready.