Zoo auctions orangutan artwork as NFTs, $550 beginning bid for first-of-its-kind dialog effort

Friday is worldwide orangutan day, and the Oklahoma Metropolis Zoo is marking it with a special day: an public sale of 20 artworks digitally painted by Elok, the zoo’s 21-year previous orangutan. The works come within the type of NFTs, a kind of distinctive digital collectible, that will likely be auctioned off on the NFT platform OpenSea till midday on Aug. 22.

Whereas a number of organizations have beforehand offered NFTs to learn animal conservation, this seems to be the primary time an animal has created digital artworks for an NFT collection.

Elok painted the artwork items as a each day enrichment exercise meant to maintain him wholesome and lively. By utilizing a modified paintbrush and an Xbox outfitted with a sensor Elok painted quite a lot of colours on a digital canvas from his indoor habitat. In change, he acquired his favourite treats: popcorn, prunes, and animal crackers.

Here’s a digital portray made by Elok that the zoo is holding however is just like the 20 that will likely be up for public sale on Friday:

Elok’s care employees give him a each day enrichment exercise reminiscent of puzzles or digging by hay with a purpose to stimulate his senses and problem him mentally. Elok has painted on bodily canvases, however this was the primary time he tried digital portray, mentioned Tracey Dolphin, the OKC Zoo’s curator of primates.

Elok could be very inventive and likes utilizing instruments, Dolphin mentioned, so regardless of the problem, he finally got interested within the new expertise.

“You possibly can see that studying as he went by the method and as soon as he understood it, then he acquired a little bit bit extra into it,” Dolphin instructed Fortune.

All three species of orangutans, Sumatran, Bornean, and Tapanuli, are critically endangered and they’re at elevated danger of extinction due to bushmeat searching, building of roads, agriculture, and unlawful commerce of their native habitats. Globally, 60% of primate species are actually threatened with extinction and 75% have declining populations, in response to the zoo.

Rebecca Snyder, the zoo’s director of conservation and science mentioned that since Elok is a Sumatran Orangutan, the zoo selected a Sumatra-based charity, the Leuser Conservation Forum, as the primary that may profit from the Friday public sale. The funds will instantly assist protect Elok’s native habitat on the Indonesian island, she mentioned.

“They do patrols of the protected space there, which is essential as a result of habitat loss is an enormous drawback for orangutans,” Snyder instructed Fortune. “That’s one of many most important causes that they’re critically endangered. Regardless that an space is perhaps designated as protected, that doesn’t imply that folks don’t nonetheless enter these areas and typically have interaction in criminal activity.” 

All proceeds from Friday’s public sale will likely be collected by the zoo’s nonprofit, the Oklahoma Zoological Society which can distribute the cash to conservation organizations working to guard wild orangutans and different endangered species.

In February, WWF-UK, a non-governmental group centered on wilderness conservation, offered a collection of pictures of endangered animals as NFTs however halted the sale after in the future in response to criticism over the power utilized in creating the digital tokens.

The Oklahoma zoo seems to have determined that the advantages of elevating cash for primate habitats outweighs the comparatively modest environmental influence of making Elok’s NFTs, which have been minted on the Ethereum blockchain.

It’s unclear how a lot cash Elok’s work may elevate. In current months, even NFTs by lesser recognized artists have fetched 1000’s of {dollars}, and with a beginning price ticket of 0.3 Ether, or about $550 as of Wednesday, the OKC Zoo is hoping their marketing campaign will likely be simply as profitable, attracting conservation advocates and artwork collectors alike.

“Most individuals received’t have a possibility to see a wild orangutan and lots of people don’t know what’s occurring to orangutans and their habitat, or to the opposite species that share the forest they stay in, and our animals are a great way to introduce folks to that and make them care about one thing that’s occurring on the opposite facet of the planet,” Snyder mentioned.