Monkeys in zoos could soon be getting their own Netflix and Spotify streaming sites

Could monkeys be about to get their own version of YouTube, Netflix or Spotify?

Experts at Glasgow university have been exploring the technology and have developed a "monkey media player".

It lets primates like gorillas, chimps and orangutans use interactive, computer-based systems to access sounds and videos with a touchscreen.

The aim is to entertain and engage animals in zoos by giving them interactions that stimulate them in ways they would likely experience in the wild.

Do the monkeys like watching TV and listening to sounds?

Researchers worked with white-faced saki monkeys

As part of the study researchers focused on a group of three white-faced saki monkeys at Korkeasaari Zoo in Helsinki, Finland, to how they respond to audio and visual technology.

A small computer was placed inside a wood and plastic tunnel in the monkey's enclosure, which would turn on when they animals walked through it.

The device would then play sounds or a video which they could listen or watch for as long as they wanted to.

How long they stayed was monitored over 32 days as well as what they were watching or listening to at the time.

There were lots of different videos, designed to appeal to the monkeys, for example rain sounds, music or traffic noises, videos of worms, underwater scenes or abstract shapes and colours.

For the most part the monkey's didn't stay watching or listening for a long time, with most interactions lasting only a few seconds, and over time, their interactions dropped.

Initially the monkeys seemed to interact more with the audio but later there seemed to be more engagement when videos were playing.

The research was led by Dr Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas of the University of Glasgow, along with colleague Vilma Kankaanpaa of Aalto University in Finland.

She said: "While they chose audio more regularly than video, the results weren't statistically significant enough for us to know for sure what they prefer."

Don't get your hopes up for a monkey equivalent of Newsround

Dr Hirskyj-Douglas said the team had previously looked at how this species of monkey interacted with video content and audio content, but this is the first time they'd given them the option to choose between the two.

She said they findings raise a number of questions which are worthy of further study, which could also help determine whether the short interactions were simply part of their typical behaviour, or if it was a reflection of their interest in the audio and video content.

She added: "Their levels of interaction over time could be reflective of how engaging they found the content", or more that they were just becoming less curious as they were used to the tunnel being in their enclosure.