Toronto Zoo’s orangutans to get an iPad—and the chance to fingerpaint, 21st century–style

Apparently, Orangutan Outreach, an American conversation group spearheading the Apps for Apes program, is putting the Toronto Zoo’s primates at the front of the line for a shiny new tablet computer. The group’s founder and director has been paying close attention to the Milwaukee Zoo’s orangutans, which have been playing with their own iPad since last year. There, zookeepers hold onto the tablet while the animals use an app to fingerpaint; the theory goes that the act takes some of the monotony out of life in captivity. With iPads in enough zoos, the animals could even start hanging out via video chat (seriously, that’s part of Orangutan Outreach’s grand plan). Though we have to wonder if giving the apes other, lesser tablets would make them just as happy—or if they would feel unsatisfied, inferior and just generally uncool. Read the entire story [Toronto Star] »