University of Glasgow ties up with Blair Drummond Safari Park to study Lemur behaviour

LemurLounge, an innovative wooden box equipped with infrared sensors offers zoo-dwelling lemurs the opportunity to curate their auditory environment

A team of researchers of the University of Glasgow and experts from Blair Drummond Safari Park have joined hands to study in an experiment aimed at enhancing their well-being through interactive technology.

According to a press statement, dubbed the ‘LemurLounge,’ an innovative wooden box equipped with infrared sensors offers zoo-dwelling lemurs the opportunity to curate their auditory environment by triggering sounds of their choice.

The statement adds that the outcomes of the research will be presented as a paper at the Association of Computing Machinery, Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems next month.

The findings could help inform the development of more fully-featured digital enrichment systems for lemurs living in zoos and help advance the emerging field of animal-computer interaction.

The statement adds that the system, endeavour in lemur research, indicates a preference for sound over silence, despite lacking a distinct favourite. Notably, interactions vary among species and individuals, suggesting lemurs possess unique device interaction preferences akin to humans. These insights hold promise for enhancing zoo lemurs’ lives through advanced digital enrichment systems and advancing the burgeoning field of animal-computer interaction.

The ‘LemurLounge’ triggers various sounds upon entering and the lemurs exhibited a clear preference for audio stimuli over silence when given the choice, says the university.

Dr Hirskyj-Douglas

Over the course of eight weeks, 14 lemurs from three different species were observed interacting with the LemurLounge. Remarkably, their responses varied not only across species but also among individual animals within the same group. Some lemurs showed a penchant for upbeat music, while others preferred the calming effects of white noise.

“Technology offers us the opportunity to enrich the lives of zoo animals with interactive systems that are custom-designed for their physical and mental needs, interests, and abilities. However, in order to make the most of the potential of interactive devices, it is vital that we take their preferences into account. As much as we can, we want to design systems in collaboration with them rather than trying to decide what they might want for us. Our partnership with Blair Drummond Safari Park gives us the chance to start mapping out what a future of animal-computer interaction might look like. It builds on a wealth of previous research showing that audio enrichment could benefit zoo animals’ wellbeing,” says Dr Hirskyj-Douglas.

“This research is the first time that zoo-housed lemurs have been given the opportunity to interact with a computer enrichment device. Their reactions to the LemurLounge gives us fresh insight into their behaviour and preferences, and could help inform the development of systems for lemurs and other species in the future,” she adds.

Vilma Kankaanpää

“There’s much more variation apparent in their behaviour than we saw with similar saki monkey studies. Part of that may be down to differences between cohabitating species as well as individual preferences, which are factors that haven’t been explored much in previous studies. Our findings suggest that future enrichment systems for animals of different species that live together in enclosures should take the variation in their preferences into account at the design stage. The computer systems humans use in our everyday lives were developed through intensive research into users’ needs and preferences. In order to build the best possible interactive systems for animals in the future, we will need similarly focused research into what works for them. This study is one step further towards a future where zoo animals have access to digital devices which can enrich their lives,” says Vilma Kankaanpää, paper’s corresponding author.

“We are delighted to be part of the push to bring interactive systems into more common usage as enrichment devices. It’s very interesting to hear this study has shown that individual preference may be just as significant to the design process as species variation. For us keepers, these findings come as no surprise. Our interactions with these animals grant us the privilege of witnessing their many varied idiosyncrasies daily. It will be fascinating to see how we can utilise these learnings going forward,” says Alasdair Gillies, Research Coordinator, at Blair Drummond Safari Park.

The team’s paper, titled ‘LemurLounge: Lemurs’ Individual-Level, Group, and Cross-Species use of an interactive audio device in zoos’, will be presented at the Association of Computing Machinery’s CHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, which takes place in Hawaii from May 11-15.