Bawang, an ape living at the San Francisco Zoo, had his first encounter with a video game on Friday after a boy accidentally dropped his DSi XL into the gorilla exhibit. Bawang seemed to be quite interested in figuring out how the handheld worked, as the animal was seen flipping it over and examining it in front of its eyes a few times. A younger gorilla, Hansai, tried to take the DSi XL away, though Hansai refused to hand it over.
Shortly thereafter, one of the zoo’s trainers came over to retrieve the device. Bawang willingly threw the DSi XL into the crowd, and was rewarded with an apple. Apparently the gorilla’s at the zoo have been trained to do that, as Christina Spicuzza, the photographer at the scene, explained:
“The gorilla was very interested in trying to figure it out… She (the trainer) told us that they trained them to do that. If anything falls in there they are trained that they get a reward if they throw it back up.”
So, what was the fate of the DSi XL? According to the boy and his family, it’s in perfect working condition. All’s well that ends well!
