If you thought humans were the only ones who could enjoy themselves playing around with the iPad – think again. Some folks over at the Milwaukee County Zoo in Wisconsin recently discovered that humans weren’t the only one who knew how to appreciate a tablet – apparently orangutans do too. According to reports online, the orangutans were fascinated with their photographs being shown on the tablet, and with watching video clips of other animals.
The orangutans also enjoyed programs like Doodle Buddy (a drawing app), Magic Piano (to create music) and simple games like Koi Pond. Right now the animals are being observed to see how they interact with the iPad tablets so that developers can come up with more orangutan-optimized apps in the future.
While the apes enjoy playing with the tablets, they have to do so through their enclosure’s metal bars to touch the screens. If they got a hold of the tablet, they would attempt to take it apart. Orangutans also tend to urinate on everything, so they’ll need to find a way to waterproof and safeguard the tablet before they can leave the iPad in full possession of the apes.
With a number of zoos expressing their interest to join the Apps for Apes program, this ape-iPad combination should be here to stay for awhile. In the meantime we’ll just sit back and wait for the day that Apple opens up an Ape apps section in the Apple App Store.