Oh, sure, the story of orangutans at Miami's famed Jungle Island learning to use iPads may seem cute to you. "Ah, the monkeys think they're peoples!" But be wary, folks. We're pretty sure this is exactly how one of the Planet of the Apes movies started out. First the apes learned how to master Angry Birds. Then they learned to master the world. They don't think they're people. They think they're the better than us, and there's nothing cute about it.
The software was originally designed for humans with autism and the screen displays pictures of various objects. A trainer then names one of the objects, and the ape presses the corresponding button.
Linda Jacobs, the head of the mental stimulus program at the zoo, says Orangutans are actually quite intelligent, but their communication with (and hence eventual domination over) humans is limited because they can't speak.
"They are sort of trapped in those bodies," she tells the AP. "They have the intelligence that they need to communicate, but they don't have the right equipment, because they don't have voice boxes or vocal cords. So this gives them a way to let us know what they know, what they are capable of, what they would like to have."
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- @Swagrangutan1: Hot chick just broke up with her boyf in front of my habitat. Think I can get her digits? Once you go orange, you never go ...damn.
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