Friday, April 13, 2007

Zoo Lander

Touch-Screen Progress Monitors Primates

Four-year-old Bernas isn't the computer wizard his mother is, but he's learning. Just the other day he used his lips and feet to play a game on the touch-screen monitor as his mother, Madu, swung from vines and climbed trees. According to CNews.canoe.ca, the two Sumatran orangutans at Zoo Atlanta are playing computer games while researchers study the cognitive skills of the orange and brown primates.

The best part? Zoo visitors get to watch their every move. The orangutans use a touch screen built into a tree-like structure that blend in with their zoo habitat. Visitors watch from a video monitor in front of the exhibit. Zoo officials hope the exhibit will raise awareness of the rapidly diminishing wild orangutan population, which is on track to completely disappear in the next decade, and potentially provide keys to their survival.

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