Research suggests Lemurs like to move-it, move-it
GROOVING: A Lemur listening to sounds in the 'LemurLounge'. Credit: University of Glasgow
It may come as a surprise to you but ground-breaking research suggests that the furry-tailed primates from Madagascar prefer music to the sound of silence.
This revelation comes following an 8-week trial of the ‘LemurLounge’ at Blair Drummond Safari Park in Stirling.
Researchers from the University of Glasgow developed the ‘LemurLounge’ to test whether the lives of the primates could be enriched by interactive technology that plays sounds when triggered.
The ‘LemurLounge’ is a wooden box which is lined with infrared sensors. When one of the furry creatures entered, the device played one of a rotating selection of sounds.
Alasdair Gillies, Research Coordinator at Blair Drummond Safari Park, said: “We’ve been working with the University of Glasgow and Dr Hirskyi-Douglas for around three years and this is one of the first big projects we’ve got off the ground together.
“The ‘LemurLounge’ is a device which allows the Lemurs to interact in different ways with technology by controlling their environment which is a really massive step forward in the advancement because human technology is now at the point where it can benefit non-human species.”
The ‘LemurLounge’ is a wooden box which is lined with infrared sensors. When one of the furry creatures enters, the device responds by playing one of a selection of sounds.
The findings suggest that whilst they do not have a favourite sound, Lemurs prefer noise over silence. Their musical tastes range from upbeat tunes to calm and melodic sounds. Some Lemurs even prefer white noise.
Interestingly, the interactions of the animals vary across species and between individuals within species groups, much like humans.
Lesley Rodger, animal keeper, said: “The dominant ones always go in first. They always go to see what’s going on.
“They’re a matriarchy so it’s always the females that lead. Always one of the females would go in, check it out, make sure it wasn’t dangerous and wasn’t going to hurt them first.
“Then, after that, they would go down the ranks and they would all go in. We found the younger ones would dive straight in to see what was going on.”
It is hoped that the findings could help develop more fully-featured digital enrichments systems for lemurs living in captivity and help to evolve the field of animal-computer interaction.
Ms Rodger added: “It’s really interesting for us because a lot of their enrichment is food based so we are always looking for other things to engage their other senses as well.
“What we would really like to do is to use that from being the first box to potentially being a room.
“If we find things that don’t stress them out or calm them down and if we do have any Lemurs for transitions back into the wild, or if we are integrating them into groups, or if they have had to have a veterinary procedure, anything that will help them feel more relaxed is always good.”
