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Apex and ApeTouch: Development of a Portable Touchscreen System and Software for Primates at Zoos

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Zoos are increasingly looking at technology-based enrichment as a way to improve the welfare of primates in their care. Touchscreen tasks are an option that have a long and established history of usage by primates in research settings as well as a history in zoos. However, the barrie...

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Autores principales: Martin, Christopher Flynn, Muramatsu, Akiho, Matsuzawa, Tetsuro
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9265006/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35804559
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani12131660
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author Martin, Christopher Flynn
Muramatsu, Akiho
Matsuzawa, Tetsuro
author_facet Martin, Christopher Flynn
Muramatsu, Akiho
Matsuzawa, Tetsuro
author_sort Martin, Christopher Flynn
collection PubMed
description SIMPLE SUMMARY: Zoos are increasingly looking at technology-based enrichment as a way to improve the welfare of primates in their care. Touchscreen tasks are an option that have a long and established history of usage by primates in research settings as well as a history in zoos. However, the barrier-to-entry is high for new zoos interested in adopting the primate touchscreen method. There are no pre-built and zoo-specific hardware and software options available, so zoos must assemble touchscreen systems on their own and write their own software or use pre-existing research-based software that is not ideally suited to zoo settings and applications. To remedy this, we developed a pre-built portable touchscreen system named Apex along with easy-to-operate primate software named ApeTouch; both are available for zoos to acquire. Our system and software offer enrichment, research, and husbandry applications. To illustrate the utility of these tools, we report on a training study with four species of zoo-housed macaques using the Apex machine and ApeTouch software. ABSTRACT: We report on the development and testing of a portable touchscreen apparatus and accompanying software program for primate enrichment, cognitive research, and husbandry applications. For zoos considering using technology to bolster scientific efforts or enhance the welfare of primates in their care, touchscreen activities offer a solution that has a long and proven record of primate use in laboratory settings as well as a history of usage in the zoo world. We review the options that are available for zoos to build their own touchscreen systems and we offer as an alternative our pre-built apparatus, Apex, and primate software suite, ApeTouch, both of which are tailored for use in a zoo setting. The efficacy and utility of these tools are demonstrated in a training study with four macaque groups of different species that were previously naïve to touchscreens. All of the groups in the study learned to use the device and displayed a consistent engagement with the touchscreen tasks over 95 daily sessions of exposure. In the final stage of the training, two of the four groups displayed an above-chance level performance on a numerical sequencing task.
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spelling pubmed-92650062022-07-09 Apex and ApeTouch: Development of a Portable Touchscreen System and Software for Primates at Zoos Martin, Christopher Flynn Muramatsu, Akiho Matsuzawa, Tetsuro Animals (Basel) Article SIMPLE SUMMARY: Zoos are increasingly looking at technology-based enrichment as a way to improve the welfare of primates in their care. Touchscreen tasks are an option that have a long and established history of usage by primates in research settings as well as a history in zoos. However, the barrier-to-entry is high for new zoos interested in adopting the primate touchscreen method. There are no pre-built and zoo-specific hardware and software options available, so zoos must assemble touchscreen systems on their own and write their own software or use pre-existing research-based software that is not ideally suited to zoo settings and applications. To remedy this, we developed a pre-built portable touchscreen system named Apex along with easy-to-operate primate software named ApeTouch; both are available for zoos to acquire. Our system and software offer enrichment, research, and husbandry applications. To illustrate the utility of these tools, we report on a training study with four species of zoo-housed macaques using the Apex machine and ApeTouch software. ABSTRACT: We report on the development and testing of a portable touchscreen apparatus and accompanying software program for primate enrichment, cognitive research, and husbandry applications. For zoos considering using technology to bolster scientific efforts or enhance the welfare of primates in their care, touchscreen activities offer a solution that has a long and proven record of primate use in laboratory settings as well as a history of usage in the zoo world. We review the options that are available for zoos to build their own touchscreen systems and we offer as an alternative our pre-built apparatus, Apex, and primate software suite, ApeTouch, both of which are tailored for use in a zoo setting. The efficacy and utility of these tools are demonstrated in a training study with four macaque groups of different species that were previously naïve to touchscreens. All of the groups in the study learned to use the device and displayed a consistent engagement with the touchscreen tasks over 95 daily sessions of exposure. In the final stage of the training, two of the four groups displayed an above-chance level performance on a numerical sequencing task. MDPI 2022-06-28 /pmc/articles/PMC9265006/ /pubmed/35804559 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani12131660 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Martin, Christopher Flynn
Muramatsu, Akiho
Matsuzawa, Tetsuro
Apex and ApeTouch: Development of a Portable Touchscreen System and Software for Primates at Zoos
title Apex and ApeTouch: Development of a Portable Touchscreen System and Software for Primates at Zoos
title_full Apex and ApeTouch: Development of a Portable Touchscreen System and Software for Primates at Zoos
title_fullStr Apex and ApeTouch: Development of a Portable Touchscreen System and Software for Primates at Zoos
title_full_unstemmed Apex and ApeTouch: Development of a Portable Touchscreen System and Software for Primates at Zoos
title_short Apex and ApeTouch: Development of a Portable Touchscreen System and Software for Primates at Zoos
title_sort apex and apetouch: development of a portable touchscreen system and software for primates at zoos
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9265006/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35804559
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani12131660
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