Houston Zoo Sells Artwork Made by Animals for Valentine's Day!

Houston Zoo is promoting another unique activity to help fund their wildlife conservation and protection sanctuary. This time, a patron can share the Valentine's day love with their partners by gifting them artworks made by their favorite animals.

Elephants, sea lions, gorillas, bears, tigers, and more are taking a brush to the canvas to raise money to help save their friends in the wild.

How is this possible?

With a little help from their keepers, animals at the Houston Zoo have gotten to work creating the most adorable pieces of art to fundraise money for their friends in the wild.

The custom art pieces range from $50 - $300 and include an unmatted flat canvas, a photo of the animal artist, and domestic shipping.

Who are the artists?

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Some of the Animal Artists are:

Asian Elephants

The zoo's Asian elephant herd loves to paint, and they each have their own unique style. To make their signature elephant kisses, our elephants (with their keepers' help) gently press their noses to the canvas leaving the unique heart-shaped print behind.

Sea Lions

Made by the zoo's own professional sea lion trio Cali, Jonah, and Kamia. Each piece is made by the sea lions with the assistance of their keepers. The zoo makes sure that the sea lions are enjoying what they are doing.

White Rhino

George and Indy, the zoo's southern white rhinos, are also doing their share in funding their refuge. They can often be found lounging in the mud or cooling off in the shade. Indy and George gently press their hips and backside's into our non-toxic paint and then onto the canvas to create the unique prints.

Red Pandas

Li Ming and Také have lived at the Houston Zoo since 2015. Their artwork is created by skillfully walking across a canvas. Thick fur covers the red panda's entire bodies, even the soles of their feet, which means you'll see imprints of all that fur in their paw print masterpieces.

Malayan Tiger

Berani is 7 years old and joined the Houston Zoo family in 2016. A favorite of guests, he can often be seen snoozing under the bamboo or taking a dip in his pool. Evidence of Berani's powerful paws is seen in every piece of art he creates.

Chimpanzees

Each piece of art reflects the chimpanzees' personality and their special bond with their animal care team.

Gorillas

Enrichment activities are fun for both animals and keepers, and painting is an engaging activity that the gorillas enjoy. A whole family of gorillas is spending quality time painting their masterpieces with the help of their handlers.

Virtual Experience

For $200, interested animal-lovers can participate in a virtual painting experience with an animal of their choice where they will get to watch and be involved in the creation of their custom art piece.

During this experience, participants will be able to choose their own paint colors and interact with zookeepers as they assist the animals in creating the art pieces.

All these are done to source more funds for the zoo to make sure that the animals are well taken care of.