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AT THE ZOO
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VIRTUAL GORILLA PROJECT
"GORILLAS IN THE BITS"
"GORILLAS IN THE BITS"
Our Day at Zoo Atlanta
On May 15, 1996, we packed up the equipment and headed to Zoo Atlanta. This was to be our first demonstration of the Virtual Gorilla Project outside of the lab. With the press conference scheduled in the morning and demonstrations to last throughtout the day, we anxiously anticipated the public reaction to our first open showing of the project.
With the gracious help of a 'portable' equipment loan from Silicon Graphics, we set up the demo in the Zoo's "Gorillas of Cameroon Interpretive Center". The Interpretive Center is situated at the base of Gorilla Habitat 3 -- Willie B's family-- and is the only place visitors can get up close to the gorillas (a glass wall seperates the building and the habitat.) The Interpretive Center is not only a viewing area, but an educational opportunity as well. Visitors can view videos of the the history of the exhibit and its inhabitants, see images and models of the gorilla's native habitat(s) and learn about different issues facing gorillas in the wild and captivity. This was the perfect place to set up the Virtual Gorilla demonstration.
The Virtual Gorilla Project was designed with similar goals as those which led to the building of the Interpretive Center -- gorilla conservation education. The Virtual Gorilla environment is modelled after this particular part of the gorilla habitat(s). This afforded us with a unique opportunity -- to allow the user to enter the virtual world at the same place they 'left' the real. The overlay of the two had some interesting results the day of our demo. The users start in the simulated Interpretive Center and are allowed to look around to get used to moving in the virtual environment. Once acclimated, the user is encouraged to go 'through the glass' wall and into the virtual habitat. In the virtual habitat the gorillas react to the presence of this new visitor as if s/he were a juvenile member of their family group. Reactions varied from fear to delight, but most users agreed it was a lot mor fun than 'reading a textbook'.
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