Real monkeys fall for apps
Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2025 8:59 am
“ Planet of the Apps ” was the headline in the British tabloid The Sun on April 1st. Referring to the 1968 film of the same name and its sequels, Bryan Flinn describes how gorillas became addicted to the iPad. Zookeeper Phil Ridges witnessed it: “We thought they would bang them on rocks but they carried them round as if they were babies.” Most readers fell for this April Fool’s joke, but it turned out that it wasn’t such a crazy idea after all, when the New Scientist reported on an experiment by zoo volunteer Scott Engel at the end of last year.
For Christmas, the zoo volunteer had given his old iPad to an orangutan. The headline “ Apps for apes: Orangutans want iPads for Christmas ” says it all: the apps were a resounding success. The ape colony “went bananas!” For Richard Zimmerman of Orangutan Outreach , a group that works to help this endangered species, this experiment was a gift from heaven. Last May, he had already started the “Apps for Apes” campaign, complete with a website where people can donate money and make their surplus iPads available to the apes.
Of course, great apes are excellent candidates for learning to use iPads. The animals are intelligent, curious and brother cell phone list creative, but in captivity they often become bored and depressed. The iPad as a window to a digital reality that makes existence bearable is a brilliant idea. Apparently, it is not for nothing that the thing is equipped with the so-called 'gorilla glass'.
All those apps are great
Monkeys love simple drawing apps, but the music app Magic Piano and Koi Pond are also very popular. Despite the gorilla glass, the iPad does not last very long in the hands of an orangutan. That is why a robust casing is now being developed. It had better be waterproof, because dolphins are now also using the device. On the website of SpeakDolphin , an institute for better communication between people and cetaceans, we see how dolphins can deliberately tap an object or an action via symbols on the iPad's touch screen and are able to express their emotions.
For Christmas, the zoo volunteer had given his old iPad to an orangutan. The headline “ Apps for apes: Orangutans want iPads for Christmas ” says it all: the apps were a resounding success. The ape colony “went bananas!” For Richard Zimmerman of Orangutan Outreach , a group that works to help this endangered species, this experiment was a gift from heaven. Last May, he had already started the “Apps for Apes” campaign, complete with a website where people can donate money and make their surplus iPads available to the apes.
Of course, great apes are excellent candidates for learning to use iPads. The animals are intelligent, curious and brother cell phone list creative, but in captivity they often become bored and depressed. The iPad as a window to a digital reality that makes existence bearable is a brilliant idea. Apparently, it is not for nothing that the thing is equipped with the so-called 'gorilla glass'.
All those apps are great
Monkeys love simple drawing apps, but the music app Magic Piano and Koi Pond are also very popular. Despite the gorilla glass, the iPad does not last very long in the hands of an orangutan. That is why a robust casing is now being developed. It had better be waterproof, because dolphins are now also using the device. On the website of SpeakDolphin , an institute for better communication between people and cetaceans, we see how dolphins can deliberately tap an object or an action via symbols on the iPad's touch screen and are able to express their emotions.