Video game consoles and video games are being revealed in recent years as the perfect tool for health, learning and even the study of animals. Now, scientists from theComplutense University of Madrid(UCM) have decided to use the famous gameProfessor Layton, to study the behavior of orangutans and improve the enrichment program for these animals.
For those who do not know, the Nintendo video game Professor Layton is a kind of graphic adventure where various mazes and puzzles must be solved to complete the phases. It is precisely these tests that have been used as training to train and investigate the intelligence of orangutans like Dahi at the Zoo Aquarium in Madrid.
And it is that these video game tests already demonstrated in 2010, thanks to a joint study by the Autonomous University of Madrid , the UCM and the CIEN-Reina Sofía Foundation , that those who solved these problems usually improved their cognitive activity.
Enrichment programs are necessary for the animal to have a suitable physical and social environment. As explained by the person in charge of the monkey’s cognitive enrichment program, Mario Robledillo, “in particular, it proposes solving problems with different degrees of complexity to stimulate the animal mentally, such as getting food by solving a puzzle or a maze that requires dexterity using the hands. , making tools, etc., to manipulate the device and have access to food “.
Thus, the researchers have reproduced in life size one of these tests of the video game in which Dahi must lead various objects to the exit of the labyrinth. As María Delclaux, director of terrestrial mammals at Madrid Zoo Aquarium explains, ” the intelligence of these primates, like that of humans, has to be stimulated. We do exercises with Dahi every day, that is why he has developed skills that many humans they can be stunted by lack of training. “
Dahi took, the first time he solved this riddle, half an hour; brand that improves day by day through training. From the Zoo Aquarium of Madrid they challenge anyone who wants to try to approach the center and try to beat the orangutan mark …
