People-watching

23februari2011
Source: nu.nl
Zoo visitors could have an enriching effect on orang-utans: the visitors are an object of study, not a cause of stress. These are the conclusions of University of Melbourne researchers.
The Australian scientists drew these conclusions after zoo experiments in which half of the windows of the orang-utan enclosures were covered. The five orang-utans then had the option of hiding from view, but they didn’t. Most of the apes avoided the protected area and spent four times more of their time in front of the visible area. Observations included that the orang-utans often looked in the direction of the zoo visitors.

According to the principle investigator, these observations demonstrate that the apes are not stressed by the presence of the people, which is contrary to what is often maintained in the scientific literature. The investigator suggests that the orang-utans are actually attracted to people: otherwise they would have spent much more time behind the covered windows.