The team behind the findings say the outcomes of the first trial of their ‘CreatureConnect’ system show that there is value for two different species to share experiences together through technology.

Visitors to Blair Drummond Safari Park in Scotland were offered the opportunity to collaborate with the park’s five red-ruffed lemurs on a unique sensory experiment to trigger sounds, video clips and smells using the custom-built, computer-controlled CreatureConnect system.

The lemurs chose to engage most often with CreatureConnect when they could collaborate with humans to control the stimuli. At the same time, visitors stayed significantly longer at the lemur enclosure and high levels of empathy with the animals when they engaged with the technology. 

Dr Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas leads the University of Glasgow’s Animal-Computer Interaction research group and is the paper’s corresponding author. She said: “As part of our ongoing research relationship with Blair Drummond Safari Park, we wanted to explore whether offering shared control of technology could create a bridge between species that would be valuable for both.

“Our findings suggest for the first time that we can not only share experiences with other species using technology, but that, in this case, red-ruffed lemurs want to share them with us and prefer sharing to solo control.”

The custom-built, computer-controlled CreatureConnect system was split into two devices, with one placed on either side of the lemur enclosure’s glass partition. This gave humans and lemurs alike control over the triggering of sounds, video footage and scents.

When a lemur approached the device, a distance sensor triggered sounds like music or rainforest ambience, visuals including an underwater scene and abstract patterns, and the smell of apple, lavender and mango. 

On the visitors’ side, humans controlled the stimuli using sliders on a touchscreen display, allowing them to adjust the intensity of the sensory modes when it was their turn to control the system.

During the 20 days CreatureConnect was on display at the park, more than 16,000 people visited the lemur enclosure. 1,719 of them used the system for themselves, and the lemurs interacted with it 541 direct times. 

The team tested four variations of the way the system worked to gather data on the responses of the human and animal users to each, working from fully automatic triggering of the stimuli to human-only, lemur-only and shared human-lemur control.

They found that lemurs were most engaged when they shared control with humans and had a preference for high-intensity scents, bright visuals, and medium-intensity sound.

Humans were similarly engaged by shared control, with survey responses showing high levels of engagement, enjoyment and empathy towards the animals. Visitors stayed longer at the enclosure, had a stronger sense of connection, and talked more often about the animals’ behaviour and welfare. 

Footfall and dwell time at the enclosure also increased significantly on days when CreatureConnect was available. 

Jiaqi Wang, a PhD student at the University of Glasgow’s School of Computing Science, is the paper’s first author. She said: “When we were designing the system, we suspected that humans would respond more strongly to shared control than the lemurs, and that lemurs would prefer to do their own thing. 

“We were surprised to find that the lemurs do not necessarily want to control the device alone. Instead, they seem to want to share, and that has a very clear impact on visitors’ interest in the lemurs and their desire to spend more time with and learn about them.

“Red-ruffed lemurs are a critically endangered species which need help to recover their numbers in the wild. Using technology to foster high levels of engagement and empathy could help zoo visitors leave not just with happy memories but also with a keener interest in wildlife conservation.”

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Lorna Graham, Research Coordinator at Blair Drummond Safari Park, said: “Research like this helps us better understand what our animals value, while also building deeper empathy between people and wildlife. That’s incredibly powerful for the future of conservation.”

Dr Hirskyj-Douglas added: “One of the most exciting directions for this research is thinking about what happens when we move beyond charismatic animals like lemurs which people find easy to relate to. 

“What might happen if we were to try this with a spider, or an insect, or another animal that visitors might be less naturally drawn to?

“Technology could have a transformative impact on support for conservation efforts”.