November 27, 2012, by Lindsay Brooke

Seeing the world through the eyes of an orangutan

A captive bred Sumatran orangutan and a University of Nottingham neuroscientist in Malaysia have joined forces to explain some of the mysteries of the visual brain and improve the lives of captive bred animals.

Tsunami is a seven year old orangutan who has been trained to wear special eye tracking equipment so her eye and body movements can been recorded as she completes complex actions such as locomotion, foraging for food and manipulation of small objects.

Dr Neil Mennie, from The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC), has received funding from Ministry of Science and Technology and Innovation, Malaysia (MOSTI) to carry out the research at The National Zoo of Malaysia (Zoo Negara). Not only will Dr Mennie’s research address vital questions about the visual cognition of humans and apes in natural tasks, it will also provide valuable enrichment for the juvenile captive-born orangutan.

To find out more go to The University of Nottingham news page.

 

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