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Orangutans To Skype Between Zoos With iPads

Posted by Soulskill on from the 2011-in-a-nutshell dept.

MrSeb writes "For the last six months, orangutans — those great, hairy, orange apes that go 'ook' a lot — at Milwaukee Zoo have been playing games and watching videos on Apple's iPad, but now their keepers and the charity Orangutan Outreach want to go one step further and enable ape-to-ape video chat via Skype or FaceTime. 'The orangutans loved seeing videos of themselves — so there is a little vanity going on — and they like seeing videos of the orangutans who are in the other end of the enclosure,' Richard Zimmerman of Orangutan Outreach said. 'So if we incorporate cameras, they can watch each other.' And thus the idea of WiFi video chat between orangutans — and eventually between zoos — was born. It might seem like folly, but putting (ruggedized!) iPads into the hands of apes could really revolutionize our understanding of great ape behavior."

14 of 149 comments (clear)

  1. Sexting... by j35ter · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yay :)

    --
    Delta-Mike November Bravo Tango
    1. Re:Sexting... by similar_name · · Score: 5, Funny

      Is there an ape store?

    2. Re:Sexting... by IANAAC · · Score: 5, Funny

      Is there an ape store?

      Yes. There's an ape for that.

  2. [Oblig] Rise of... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Planet of the Apes!

  3. Old news, /. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    My mother-in-law already uses Skype!

  4. Re:So... by Corbets · · Score: 3, Funny

    So it's just like human behavior. Spend some time looking at themselves, then doing a video chat with someone they could just go over and talk to. If anything, they're ahead of humans just because they don't take pictures at MySpace angles.

    What? No teenage chimps taking self portraits from above as they eat a banana? What do the dirt old orangutans do with all their free time, then?

  5. Wait, those aren't orangutans . . . ! by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 3, Funny

    That's just the "Occupy Zoo!" crowd!

    --
    Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
  6. Understanding of Apes... by BoRegardless · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Putting iPads into the hands of apes could really revolutionize our understanding of great ape behavior."

    Thought we did that in a lot of legislative bodies already...

  7. Finally by Haedrian · · Score: 4, Funny

    Apple products found the ideal user market.

    Let the flaming begin.

    1. Re:Finally by AresTheImpaler · · Score: 4, Funny

      - AresTheImpaler reads Haedrian's post
      - AresTheImpaler notices his ipad, iphone and mac mini on top of his desk
      - AresTheImpaler contemplates the situation
      - AresTheImpaler flings poo at Haedrian

  8. Ring Ring Ring Ring... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Banana phone!

  9. Re:It's so simple an ape can use it by Kenja · · Score: 5, Funny

    Have you not heard? We fixed all the schools already. Children are no longer hungry and the economy is going great. Now we can dedicate all our resources to getting monkeys to use Twitter.

    --

    "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
  10. Hello by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    YES, THIS IS APE.
    I AM APE.
    APE.



    insert lameness-filter filler here...

  11. Re:Hmm... by xMrFishx · · Score: 4, Funny

    Can't tell if serious...

    or just monkeying around.