Credit: University of Glasgow
A “monkey media participant” that lets zoo animals select between video and sound information suggests they could desire to spend extra of their time listening than watching.
The participant is the newest growth in ongoing zoo enrichment analysis from animal-computer interplay specialists on the University of Glasgow within the U.Ok. and Aalto University in Finland.
Enrichment actions for zoo animals are vital for sustaining their bodily and psychological well being and enhancing their high quality of life. Some zoos are already utilizing computer-based, interactive enrichment methods with primates like gorillas, chimps and orangutans. The touchscreen methods are designed to entertain and have interaction the animals with interactions to stimulate cognition in methods akin to actions they could undertake within the wild.
The researchers got down to discover how a bunch of three white-faced saki monkeys at Korkeasaari Zoo in Helsinki would reply to with the ability to set off audio or visible stimuli on demand, like a primate-focused Spotify or Netflix. The system is the primary of its type to supply monkeys a selection of stimuli.
To accomplish that, they constructed a pc interface contained in a small wood-and-plastic tunnel which they positioned within the monkeys’ enclosure. Infrared sensors created three equally-sized interactive zones contained in the tunnel. When monkeys moved by way of an infrared beam, it might set off both a video or a sound on a display screen in entrance of them which performed for so long as they selected to remain.
The system was within the sakis’ enclosure for a complete of 32 days. For the primary seven days, the tunnel was silent to permit them to get used to its presence. For the following 18 days, they may select between an audio or video stimulus which modified each few days. Over the course of the experiment, these stimuli had been rain sounds, music or site visitors noise, or movies of worms, underwater scenes, or summary shapes and colours.
Each time they interacted with the system, it robotically recorded what was enjoying, and the way lengthy they spent within the interactive zone which triggered the content material to play. Finally, for seven days on the finish of experiment, the tunnel returned to being non-interactive as soon as extra.
While the audiovisual stimuli components of the tunnel had been lively, the sakis’ interactions had been largely brief, lasting a number of seconds every time as they walked or ran by way of the system—mirroring how they work together with extra acquainted components of their enclosure.
Typical interplay instance. Credit: University of Glasgow
The sakis triggered audio stimuli twice as a lot in whole as visible stimuli, however over time their interactions shifted. As the examine progressed, their total ranges of interplay with each stimuli dropped, however their interactions with visible stimuli elevated compared with the audio stimuli. In whole, they listened to music a lot of the three audio information, and watched the underwater video most ceaselessly.
The analysis was led by Dr. Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas of the University of Glasgow, together with colleague Vilma Kankaanpää of Aalto University in Finland.
It builds on the pair’s earlier analysis utilizing the same system which measured sakis’ interactions initially with video alone after which with audio alone. This is the primary time that the sakis had the choice of interacting with each stimuli.
Dr. Hirskyj-Douglas, of the University of Glasgow’s School of Computing Science, stated: “We’ve been working with Korkeasaari Zoo for a number of years now to be taught extra about how white-faced sakis would possibly profit from laptop methods designed particularly for them. Previously, we have now explored how they interacted with video content material and audio content material, however that is the primary time we have given the choice to decide on between the 2.
“Our findings increase numerous questions that are worthy of additional examine to assist us construct efficient interactive enrichment methods. Further examine might assist us decide whether or not the brief interactions had been merely a part of their typical conduct, or reflective of their stage of curiosity within the system. Similarly, their various ranges of interplay over time could possibly be reflective of how partaking they discovered the content material, or just that they had been turning into habituated to the tunnel’s presence of their enclosure. While they selected audio extra repeatedly than video, the outcomes weren’t statistically vital sufficient for us to know for certain what they like.
“Animal-computer interplay continues to be an rising subject of analysis. The knowledge we collected on this examine might be a part of additional developments as we be taught extra about their habits and preferences. The final aim for us is to bridge the hole between human understanding of how animals entry and expertise laptop methods to create significant and related experiences for monkeys.”
Kirsi Pynnönen-Oudman, analysis coordinator on the Helsinki/Korkeasaari Zoo, added: “Very little analysis has been carried out on the Pitheciidae-family monkeys and their enrichment on the zoos. This examine on the white-faced saki monkeys offers us precious knowledge the right way to use completely different enrichment objects for these New World monkeys. They stay within the decrease cover of the rainforest of Brazil, Guyana, Suriname and Venezuela. In basic, saki monkeys (Pithecia pithecia) aren’t very intensively studied, not within the wild, nor within the captivity.
“This form of new info will assist the conservation efforts of this species each in within the wild and in captivity. Sakis have a breeding program, referred to as the EAZA Ex situ packages, operating in European zoos. The program coordinator visited our zoo lately and was very of the research made on them utilizing the pc primarily based animal-driven selection tunnels.”
The analysis outcomes might be introduced on the ACM SIGCHI Conference on Designing Interactive Systems, which runs between 13 and 17 June 2022. An accompanying analysis paper, “Do Monkeys Want Audio or Visual Stimuli? Interactive Computers for Choice with White-Faced Sakis in Zoos,” can even be made out there on-line.
Saki monkeys get display screen time for extra management over their lives in captivity
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‘Monkey media participant’ suggests zoo animals might desire to hear (2022, June 12)
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