Portsmouth Uni project helps zoogoers engage with endangered species through 3D holograms

Creativity meets technology in the latest innovation from the University of Portsmouth – a series of moving 3D holograms featuring Javan rhinos and African elephants.

The projections will offer visitors to Twycross Zoo in the East Midlands a chance to get up close and personal with these critically endangered species, as part of an exhibition opening to the public this week.

They’ll be supplemented by light-up infographics and displays detailing the work that must be done to protect them for future generations.

Entitled ‘Projecting Hope’, the initiative has been led by Dr Brett Stevens and his team at the university’s School of Creative Technologies.

Together they’ve made use of the new £7 million Centre for Creative and Immersive eXtended Reality – or CCIXR for short – representing the UK’s first purpose-built facility to support innovation in virtual, augmented and extended realities.

Dr Stevens said: “We use technology everyday, so finding a way to engage with visitors was really important.

“It was a great opportunity to use our skills in animation and game development to create a message that resonates.

“I don’t want a future where holograms are the only way to see such magnificent animals.”

Only 76 Javan rhinos remain in the entire world, all living in Ujong Kulon National Park on the island of Java, Indonesia.

The Asian elephant, African savannah elephant and African forest elephants are also endangered, although unlike the Javan rhino, each species is backed by conservation breeding programmes helping to grow their population in captivity.

Dr Richard Sands, Education Manager at Twycross Zoo, said: “We’re in the midst of a mass extinction crisis, with one million plant and animal species at risk right now.

“This project is a fantastic way to raise our visitors’ awareness of two iconic species, in a cool and futuristic new way.

“It’s through our visitors’ support that we can continue this vital work, and it’s exciting to give them a new experience to engage and learn about animals in a way that no other UK zoo has ever done before.”

Portsmouth isn’t the only university getting involved – led by Dr Sands and Dr Lisa Yon, scientists from Nottingham will step in at the end of the one-year installation to assess its impact on visitors and the emotions it evokes.

This research will help to inform future conservation-led public engagement projects across the UK and around the world.

• port.ac.uk