Orangutan uses iPad

The orangutans in a zoo in the United States will have the opportunity to chat with their peers at other zoos thanks to a video conversation app on the iPad tablet.

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The Milwaukee, Wisconsin, American zoo facilitates orangutans to interact with iPad tablets from May last year. The purpose of the experiment is to increase public awareness of orangutans, so that conservationists can donate money more easily to protect orangutans, the BBC reported.

Richard Zimmerman, a conservationist at Orangutan Outreach in the US, said the idea for the orangutan to use tablets to communicate appeared after Apple introduced the iPad tablet.

A Milwaukee zoo staff guides your child
Orangutan drawing on iPad tablet computer. (Photo: BBC)

The orangutans showed concern when holding the iPads. At first, zoo staff instructed them to use simple applications - like painting software. Each child is allowed to use the tablet twice a week.

'We want the orangutans to actually play - draw pictures, watch movies and do things that children do often , ' Zimmerman said.

Zimmerman found that the orangutans were interested in watching movies on the iPad, especially if other orangutans appeared in the movie. The level of pleasure increases if they know the orangutans on the computer screen.

'They like animations and glowing things,' Zimmerman said.

During the arrival of the Milwaukee Zoo will install wi-fi transmitters so the orangutans can communicate with the orangutans at other zoos through cameras on computers and video chat programs.

Many zoos and other animal conservation centers claim they want to join the Milwaukee Zoo program right away. But they have to wait for benefactors to sponsor their tablets. The Orangutan Outreach organization only has enough money to buy a tablet for the Milwaukee zoo.