A trial at Melbourne Zoo is assessing whether computer technology can provide its orangutans with intellectual stimulation as well as a way to interact with humans.
Using parts of an X-box, a laptop and a projector, Melbourne Zoo is trying to work out just how much orangutans want to share their love of computer games with visitors.
The technology projects an image on to the floor which operates as a touch screen with which the orangutans are able to interact.
"We wanted to understand whether he could see that he was interacting with a person through the technology and he got it straight away, " said Dr Marcus Carter, a scientist with the Microsoft Research Centre.
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At the launch of the trial 12-year-old orangutan Malu showed off his skills at problem-solving games with Victorian Environment Minister, Lisa Neville.
Ms Neville said the project highlighted just how similar humans were to orangutans, who share about 90 percent of human DNA.
"Just like we do they want to learn and they want to play and that's how they are enriched and fulfilled." she said.
Zoos Victoria's Rachel Lowry said keeping savvy primates like Malu occupied and stimulated was a particular challenge.
"We are really aware that Malu, being like a teenage boy, needs more problem solving every day because he is so smart," she said.
Last year, he sent the zoo into lockdown after staging a great escape into the grounds.
'We certainly hope that it will keep him busier and so he won't start to take to his own problem-solving tasks," Ms Lowry said.
The smart technology is designed to move with the orangutans' skeleton similar to the interactive, sensor-based computer games played by humans.
There's also the potential to give the orangutans unprecedented control and independence when it comes to their own living arrangements.
Ms Lowry said zookeepers hoped the animals could one day even use the technology to choose the temperature and shade levels in their enclosure.
"We are trying to find ways to give all the animals in our care more choice because that means more positive welfare," she said.
