Nassir, a gorilla at the Toronto Zoo, became “enthralled with gadgets and phones.".Photo:Richard Lautens/Toronto Star via Getty Images
Richard Lautens/Toronto Star via Getty Images
Smartphones can be a huge distraction for humans — and gorillas too.
The Toronto Zoo recently put up a sign urging visitors not to hold up their phones for the primates to view when visiting the gorilla exhibit because the content could negatively impact the animals.
“For the wellbeing of gorilla troop, please refrain from showing them any videos or photos as some content can be upsetting and affect their relationships and behavior within their family,” the sign reads in a photo from June 22.
A sign at the Toronto Zoo urges visitors not to show smartphones to gorillas.Richard Lautens/Toronto Star via Getty Images
“We’ve had a lot of members and guests that actually will put their phones up to the glass and show him videos,” Franke said in an interview published July 7. “And Nassir is so into those videos. It was causing him to be distracted and not interact with the other gorillas and, you know, being a gorilla. He was just so enthralled with gadgets and phones and the videos.”
Sadiki, another Gorilla at the Toronto Zoo, is seen in their enclosure.Richard Lautens/Toronto Star via Getty Images
This isn’t the first time a zoo has taken measures to reduce primates' screen time.
In 2022, a teenage gorilla named Amare at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago experienced behavioral issues after being shown smartphones through a glass partition, so officials put up a rope to keep visitors a few feet away.
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Stephen Ross, director of the zoo’s Lester E. Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes,explained to theChicago Sun-Times,“If we can all sort of agree that we want to do what’s best for the animals, then we can sort of resist that desire to sit there and flip through pictures for an hour with him.”
source: people.com
