Zoo Atlanta updates Virtual Gorillas. (News from Zoos).

Cybernet Systems Corporation recently announced the completed upgrade of Zoo Atlanta's Virtual Gorilla computerized educational tool. Partly funded by a National Science Foundation project led by Dr. Kenneth Hay at the University of Georgia, the Virtual Gorilla program is used to help students become familiar with the scientific method and form a better understanding of gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) using a virtual environment and virtual gorillas. Cybernet Systems improved the program's realism by giving the virtual gorillas newly enhanced physical features and motion detection capabilities, and by placing them in a more realistic habitat. Users now can become a virtual gorilla and actually experience the species' social structure through interaction while other students view the exchange on a screen.

Before entering the exhibit in the Zoo's Conservation Action Resource Center, students learn about the social structure of the gorilla and develop a hypothesis on how different gorillas will react to certain behavior. Upon entering the virtual environment as a gorilla, students then test their hypotheses by interacting with a silverback male and two adult female gorillas. Through different vocalizations and gestures that gorillas use to communicate, including screams, grunts and chest beatings, students can gauge the gorillas' reaction and change their own behavior accordingly.

The project is currently a part of Dr. Hay's Gorilla Modeling Project, which combines the use of a virtual environment, a set of modeling tools and video-streaming experiences with on-site observations. Students use gorilla observations to develop virtual reality biomechanical models of gorilla movement, and then produce an interactive model using a rule-building system. The inquiry-based approach fosters understanding of animal behavior that includes biomechanics and individual gorilla interactions.

Further information about the Virtual Gorilla exhibit is available at www.openskies.net/gorilla.