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About Think Tank
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| Orangutans travel between the Great Ape House and Think Tank on the O Line during warmer weather. |
Think Tank is a place to think about thinking. It combines the appeal of animals with an interactive exploration of the question "What is thinking?"
This exhibit looks at cognition in three areas: tools, language, and society. The exhibit goals are to educate visitors about the field and the scientific process, and to build a conservation ethic through the understanding of animals as complex cognitive beings. 
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Currently, the Zoo has an ongoing research project on orangutan memory, which can be seen at Think Tank.
Watch a researcher test an orangutan to learn how memories play into orangutan decision-making.
The Zoo is home to six orangutans, including two young Bornean orangutans. We have permission to breed them from the Species Survival Plan for orangutans. Asia's largest primates, orangutans
live only in rainforests on the Southeast Asian islands of Sumatra and Borneo. more
A project looking at the development of gestural communication with gorillas will commence with the birth of an orangutan.
New Animals and Visitor Enhancements at Think Tank
The Zoo has new exhibits that will keep visitors’ brains from losing their elasticity over the summer. Think Tank now has three female brown rats scurrying around mazes and between enclosures through a tube pathway. Isabelle, Pandora, and Mable display flexibility, which is the most important aspect of the definition of “thinking” presented in the Think Tank exhibit.
“Visitors have the opportunity to be awestruck by rats and what makes them so successful,” said Lisa Stevens, the Zoo’s curator of primates. The rats’ ability to learn will guide them through mazes and help them navigate the tube pathway between enclosures.
Visitors will also have the chance to test the flexibility of their own brains with an interactive memory test—the same test given to the Zoo’s orangutans.
Read about Think Tank changes of 2010.
Only in Smithsonian Zoogoer Magazine: What Are You Thinking?
Researchers at Think Tank delve into the minds of primates. Understanding how apes think teaches us about our own intelligence. 
Read the article.
Macaques and Orangutans at Think Tank
Sulawesi macaques, one of the world's 21 macaque species, can be seen at Think Tank. These black-haired monkeys are native to a few Indonesian islands and are endangered. more
Think Tank is connected to the Great Ape House by the Orangutan Transportation System, or O Line, which the Zoo's orangutans can use to travel between the buildings, as the weather allows. The Zoo's orangutans can choose to travel on the O Line and spend the night at either the Great Ape House or at Think Tank. Some days, several of them spend the night at Think Tank, while other days, Think Tank is empty because all of them have spent the night at the great Ape House.
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Think Tank Photo Gallery |
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Watching orangutans:
The Zoo is home to six orangutans, four females and two males. They have access to the Great Ape House and Think Tank, a place to think about thinking. Native to tropical rainforests, orangutans are Asia's largest primates and the world's largest tree-dwelling animals.
Orangutan Facts | 
Meet the Orangutans
