Apps for Apes: Orangutans in D.C. Zoo Learn to Use iPads
Shelly Palmer
Apple’s iPad is proving to be popular among a different, and hairier, type of consumer. The Smithsonian’s National Zoo recently kicked off Apps for Apes, a program that lets orangutans use the iPad as a way to stimulate their lives. Offered through Orangutan Outreach, Apps for Apes has already proven successful at 12 other zoos around the world. As described by the group, the program has three goals: 1) to provide stimulating enrichment and immediate gratification for the orangutans using iPads, 2) to raise awareness among zoo visitors of the critical need to protect orangutans in the wild, and 3) to promote the conservation efforts of Orangutan Outreach. The group’s Web site notes that “orangutans are highly intelligent creatures that require mental stimulation to keep from growing bored and depressed.”
