【こぼれ話】コロナで閉鎖の２動物園、チンパンジーがズームで「交流」　チェコ

【ドブールクラーロベナトラベムＡＦＰ＝時事】チェコで2か所の動物園が、それぞれ大型スクリーンを設置し、ビデオ会議サービス「ズーム」を介してチンパンジーを対面させた。新型コロナウイルスの影響で閉鎖中の動物園で退屈させないための試みだ。（写真はチェコのドブールクラーロベ動物園で、ブルノ動物園のチンパンジーの姿を映し出せるスクリーンの前にいるチンパンジー）
　このチンパンジーたちがいるのは、首都プラハ北東のドブールクラーロベナトラベムにあるサファリパークと、南に約１６０キロ離れたチェコ第２の都市ブルノの動物園。
　サファリパークでは、雄１匹と雌５匹のチンパンジーがサラダや草を食べながら大画面の前に座るのを楽しんでいる。
　サファリパークの動物学者、ガブリエラ・リンハルトバー氏によると、最近はチンパンジーたちが動画に示す関心が弱まりつつあるものの、最初はナッツや果物を手に画面の前に並んで座るのが大いに気に入っていたという。
　ブルノのチンパンジーたちがけんかをしたり餌をもらったりした時は特に興味がある様子で、「チンパンジーたちと、例えば映画館に行く人やテレビの前に座る私たちとの類似性は、とにかく非常に印象的だった」とリンハルトバー氏は語った。
　両動物園は、毎日午前８時～午後４時（日本時間午後４時～翌日午前０時、チェコが夏時間になる今月２８日からは日本時間午後３時～１１時）にユーチューブでの配信も行っている。
　リンハルトバー氏は、動物園に行けなくなった人間が動物たちを恋しく思うのと同じように、チンパンジーたちも寂しがっているのだと語る。「お客さまは（チンパンジーにとって）楽しませてくれる相手であり、学習や観察の対象でもあるのです」【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/03/29-11:00）

Two Czech zoos have installed large screens to let their chimpanzees watch each other via Zoom, an attempt to relieve the boredom during closures enforced by coronavirus restrictions.
The video chat platform, which has become a fixture for many humans over the past year, allows apes at the Safari Park in Dvur Kralove nad Labem northeast of Prague to see their peers at a zoo in the second city of Brno some 160 kilometres (100 miles) to the south.
We are trying to ensure some entertainment for our apes at a time when visitors cannot come to the zoo and these intelligent animals therefore lack an important entertaining stimulus, Safari Park spokesman Michal Stastny told AFP.
The Safari Park is home to one male chimpanzee and five females, who enjoy sitting in front of the large screen, munching on salad or grass.
Safari Park zoologist Gabriela Linhartova said their interest has recently started to wane, but at first they loved sitting down in a row in front of the screen with nuts and fruit in their hands.
The similarity between them and, say, cinemagoers or us sitting in front of a TV was really quite striking, Linhartova said.
We can see that when something is happening with the animals in Brno, when there's a conflict or they are being fed, our animals react with increased attention, she said.
- Zoo life continues -
Linhartova said the apes missed visitors just like visitors missed the animals.
Visitors are a source of entertainment, study and observation for the animals, she said, adding that it took the apes some time to figure out the chimpanzees on the screen were not really there.
At first, the male made gestures in a bid to protect the group when the animals in Brno got close to the camera, said Linhartova.
Before making new friends in Brno, the Safari Park chimpanzees were allowed to watch children in a kindergarten.
The two enclosures are also being broadcast on YouTube daily between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.
We are trying to show that although Czech zoos have been closed for more than 170 days since the spring of 2020, there's still life in them, Stastny said.
One of the worst-hit countries, the Czech Republic has so far seen 1.5 million Covid-19 cases and more than 25,000 deaths.