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back to article Ape Apps help Orangutans talk to people

Orangutans at Miami Zoo are using iPads to communicate with humans. Associated Press reports that half a dozen of the endangered apes are using iPads, after being offered them as part of a mental stimulation exercise that uses Apps developed for autistic humans. The apps display pictures of various objects that trainers name, …

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  1. Mitoo Bobsworth
    Pint

    "Ape Apps help Orangutans talk to people"

    FEED ME!

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  2. Neil Barnes Silver badge
    Joke

    Orangutans are using the devices to indicate body parts that need medical attention.

    So, if they're so smart, why don't they just point at the afflicted part?

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    1. Steve Brooks
      Reply Icon

      Re: Orangutans are using the devices to indicate body parts that need medical attention.

      "So, if they're so smart, why don't they just point at the afflicted part?" Lets go with the obvious shall we? Ape points at penis, human thinks "hmm is there something wrong with it," ape thinks, "suck my willy ape-boy!"

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    2. peyton?
      Reply Icon
      Devil

      Re: if they're so smart

      In a cage all day with nothing much to do... apes have been known to take up smoking and drinking... maybe he's pointing to a picture of his liver.

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  3. jake Silver badge

    iFads useful to mouth-breathing apes?

    Not surprising ... Take a stroll around Sonoma's Plaza on any given weekend afternoon. You'll observe any number of mouth-breathing apes utilizplaying with iFads.

    1 1
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: iFads useful to mouth-breathing apes?

      Damn! —when I saw there were only three comments, I was going to post an "in before first painfully predictable comment comparing Apple users to apes" but I'll obviously have to be a lot quicker than that.

      Keep writing those hits, kid!

      2 2
      1. jake Silver badge
        Reply Icon

        Re: iFads useful to mouth-breathing apes?

        Re-read what I wrote, madra.

        "Not surprising ... Take a stroll around Sonoma's Plaza on any given weekend afternoon. You'll observe any number of mouth-breathing apes utilizplaying with iFads."

        That is a statement of fact, based on personal observation, and a fact that you are free to check out on your own, all by yourself. Really. I doubt you need to be in Sonoma ... pretty much any Western World city-center will do.

        Methinks your inferiority complex is showing ... Or do you not realize you, personally, are an Ape? In that case, it's just ignorance on your part ...

        1 4
  4. Martin Budden Silver badge
    Pint

    Bindun without the tech.

    It's possible to teach orangutans proper sign language, which they can then use to communicate with keepers and with each other. They have the smarts but not the vocal cords for talking.

    Beer was the orangest colour icon available.

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  5. It wasnt me
    Happy

    Wow !

    5 comments already and no-one yet suggesting that they actually would crush them because they prefer android.

    Damn, i've gone and said it.

    4 0
  6. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
    Joke

    OOOK

    says it all!

    4 0
    1. Openminded Cynic
      Reply Icon
      Thumb Up

      Re: OOOK

      Oook? EEEK!

      1 0
  7. Blofeld's Cat
    Coat

    So...

    "when family members are relocated to other zoos."

    I suppose they will keep in touch by using Faceook.

    It's the one with another dimension in a pocket.

    2 0
    1. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Joke

      Re: So...

      It is SOOOOO tempting to suggest any orangutans on facebook would be in the upper quartile of users intelligence-wise .

      But we must resist such temptations, must we not

      2 0
  8. jai

    this is pretty awesome

    better watch out though - the next time your score in Angry Birds gets beaten, don't trash talk against whoever did it, you might anger a 200 lb monke ape

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    1. Ken Hagan Gold badge
      Reply Icon
      Happy

      Oook!

      1 0
  9. Vladimir Plouzhnikov

    Evolution in action

    From fan-boys to higher primates in less than a generation.

    OK, OK, calm down...

    3 0
  10. Andrew Moore

    But...

    ...they still haven't scored 3 stars on all levels of Angry Birds

    0 0
  11. Ageless Stranger

    42

    How many times have the apes selected this number?

    2 0
  12. Chicken Marengo
    Happy

    Fantastic

    Can they come and train my CEO how to use technology next?

    3 0
  13. Peddler

    Amother inevitable response

    Do they line up at the Apple store when a new model comes out?

    1 0
  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    WTF? an iPad to an ape? That budget is clearly too large and needs scaled back.

    Christ! Even a sub $/£100 tablet would do.

    But a £500 quid iPad, to an ape? REALLY??

    STOP WASTING PUBLIC MONEY!

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Jumping to conculsions

      First off, it's in America so that's $500 (which is about £310 right now.)

      Second, the article doesn't actually state that the Zoo *purchased* the iPads, just that they are using them. They might be donated, purchased cheap/used, or on loan from somebody.

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    2. Fibbles
      Reply Icon

      I don't know if zoos in America publicly funded but if they are think about what you're saying. It's fine to use public money to imprison obviously intelligent animals for your entertainment but it's not ok to spend a small fraction of that money to alleviate some of the boredom experienced by them?

      I'm not against responsible zoos and safari parks but your argument is ridiculous.

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  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Teaching Angry Birds is a bad idea

    Orangs are smart - smart enough to build a catapult from the ropes and trees in their enclosure.

    Do we really want to be planting that idea in their head?

    (could be worse: chimps. Catapult. Poo. 'nuf said.)

    "Right Turn, Clyde!"

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  16. Thorne

    Actually the real reason why they're teaching them to use iPad is so when they release them back into the wild, they can stick a couple of fanbois in the cage and nobody will notice the difference. It's a cheaper alternative.

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