Apps For Apes: Even Orangutans Like Playing With iPads

By now, we all know that technology codes our minds and changes our OS. The best illustration I’ve ever seen of this is in the video from A Magazine Is Just A Broken iPad where a toddler intuitively tried to apply the same gestures to a magazine as she did to an iPad. Unfortunately, she learns the hard way that images in a magazine don’t zoom when you pinch them like they do on a lot of Apple products.

Another heart-warming tribute to Steve Jobs and his design is this video below where you can see an orangutan playing with an iPad. It’s all part of a program at the Milwaukee County Zoo called Apps for Apes. The orangutans get to play with iPads twice a week.

I think it’s a little sad that the orangutans don’t get to hold the iPads since they are not designed to withstand an orangutan’s strength, but at least they get to learn and experience the gadget through the cage while someone else holds it. There are now several zoos around the United States that want iPads for their orangutans too. If you would like to donate your old iPad to this program, you can click over to the original article on the LA Times for information on how to do that.

In case you are wondering, they offered the gorillas the same experience, but they weren’t interested. I wonder if future research will prove that gorillas prefer Android devices. Hmm…

Via: [Los Angeles Times]