Spotify for monkeys? It’s in development.
Primates, our closest relative in the animal kingdom, may have the ability to appreciate streaming music services. Researchers in Scotland have been working on a project that would provide zoo animals their own version of both Spotify and Netflix. They call it a “monkey media player.”
Gorillas, chimpanzees, and orangutans are provided with interactive systems connected to a computer that allows them to access both sounds and videos. One features a touchscreen while another setup is triggered when an animal walks through an infrared beam.
They’re getting music (I have no idea what kind) but they’re also getting videos and sounds of things like rain, outdoor sounds, and traffic noises. The videos include shots of worms, scenes of water, or various abstract shapes and colours. Researchers monitored the animals’ reactions to all of this.
The main study group involved some white-faced sakis monkeys at a zoo in Finland. Interactions lasted just a few seconds at first, but after a while, they became more engaged as they figured out what was going on. And it appears that they enjoyed audio more than video.
It wasn’t reported what sort of audio tickled them the most, but I’m hoping these were on the playlist.
(Via Yahoo! Finance)
