Fantastic story on Cult of Mac today featuring some very tech-savvy orang-utans at the Milwaukee County Zoo, who have their very own iPad 2s to play with! Apparently the whole thing first started as a joke between Scott Engel, who is responsible for setting up the iPad Enrichment Program at the zoo for the orang-utans, and one of the zoo keepers, as a result of a story in UK tabloid, The Sun. According to Cult of Mac, Engel visits the orang-utans for 20 minutes, three or four times a week, and shares his iPad 2 (brave man!) with two orang-utans called MJ and Mahal. They are not allowed to play with the tablets unsupervised, however, as they are strong enough to snap one in half in an instant, according to Richard Zimmerman, executive director of Orangutan Outreach. For the most part, the orang-utans are allowed to play with the iPads through their cage doors, and apparently they have various favourite apps, including DrawFree finger painting, and the interactive book, The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore, which is a big favourite. They also like to watch TV on the iPads. And, best of all, they like to watch wildlife programmes, including ones about orang-utans, with Engel being convinced that MJ has a crush on David Attenborough because she just stares at him whenever he’s on the screen! Aw!
The scheme has been so successful that Zimmerman intends to extend it to other zoos, such as Atlanta, Phoenix and Honolulu.
Source: These Orangutans Just Love Playing With Their iPads | Cult of Mac
