The monkeys could view movies of worms, underwater sceneries, and abstract shapes and colors, as well as rain sounds, music, and traffic noises.
Researchers are investigating the impact of technology that effectively provides zoo animals with their own Spotify and Netflix accounts.
Scientists from the University of Glasgow have developed a “monkey media player” that enables primates to utilize interactive computer systems to play audio and video.
Gorillas, chimpanzees, and orangutans can use touchscreen systems to engage and stimulate themselves similar to how their intellect might be stimulated in the wild.
The team has focused on three white-faced saki monkeys at the Korkeasaari Zoo in Helsinki, Finland for this study.
They installed a small computer in a tunnel made of wood and plastic within the monkeys’ enclosure. The monkeys can trigger a film or sound by walking between infrared beams, and they could listen or watch for as long as they want.
This gadget was placed in the enclosure for 32 days, during which time the monkeys had the opportunity to see movies of worms, underwater sceneries, and abstract shapes and colors.
The contacts between the monkeys were often brief, lasting only a few seconds, and decreased over time.
“Overall, audio stimuli triggered the sakis twice as frequently as visual stimuli, but their interactions altered over time,” discovered the researchers.
“As the study went, their overall interaction with both stimuli decreased, although their interaction with visual stimuli rose relative to their interaction with audio stimuli.”
Dr. Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas, who studies animal-computer interaction at the University of Glasgow, and Vilma Kankaanpaa of Aalto University in Finland led the research.
Dr. Hirskyj-Douglas stated, “We have been collaborating with Korkeasaari Zoo for several years to determine how white-faced sakis may benefit from computer systems created specifically for them.
This is the first time we’ve offered the opportunity to pick between video and audio information.
“Our findings suggest several problems that merit additional research to develop effective interactive enrichment systems.
Further research could help us understand whether the brief contacts reflected their level of interest in the system or just reflected their regular behavior.
“Similarly, their shifting levels of interaction over time could be indicative of how entertaining they found the information, or simply that they grew accustomed to the tunnel’s presence in their habitat.
“Although they selected audio more frequently than video, the results were not statistically significant enough to determine their preference,” she noted.
