The study found that monkeys were more likely to listen to audio stimuli over screen time if they had their own versions of the two popular streaming services.
A group of three white-faced saki monkeys at Korkeasaari zoo in Helsinki were being explored by researchers from the University of Glasgow and the Aalto University.
The monkeys were able to stay in the tunnel for as long as they wanted with the help of the sakis, which triggered either a video or a sound on a screen in front of them.
The recordings show that the sakis triggered audio stimuli twice as much as visual stimuli, suggesting that they would rather listen to the Arctic Monkeys than watch Planet of the Apes.
Their levels of interaction with both stimuli went down, but their interactions with visual stimuli went up. They listened to music the most out of the three files. The underwater scenes were the most popular of the three video files.
Touchscreen systems are designed to entertain and engage animals in ways similar to what they would do in the wild, helping to maintain their physical and mental health.
The findings raise a number of questions which are worthy of further study to help build effective interactive enrichment systems.
We could determine if the short interactions were reflective of their interest in the system or just part of their typical behavior. Their differing levels of interaction over time could be indicative of how engaging they found the content, or simply that they were becoming habituated to the tunnel's presence in their enclosure.
The results weren't significant enough for us to know what they preferred.
The system is the first of its kind to give monkeys a choice of stimuli. The sakis interacted with the system in a similar way to how they interact with their enclosure.
The sais are found in the lower canopy of the rainforest.
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