A world-record stampede of origami elephants has descended on the Bronx Zoo, as part of a campaign to raise awareness about poaching.
The collection of 78,564 broke the Guinness World Record for the largest display of origami elephants. People from all 50 states and 40 other countries responded to the zoo's call to send in origami elephants, Guinness World Records said in its announcement.
It added that the diverse participants included a "a 109-year-old woman, students from a school of the deaf, as well as participants from Iran, Kazakhstan and Egypt."
The colorful folded creations filled rows of walls as a Guinness record adjudicator assessed the record attempt on Thursday.
"96 Elephants and its partners have broken the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title for largest display of origami elephants to honor the 35,000 elephants that are lost each year to poaching," Wildlife Conservation Society Executive Vice President for Public Affairs John Calvelli said in a statement. "WCS's Bronx Zoo received these gems of folded paper from all over the world and assembled them into this gorgeous display as a simple gesture that sends a powerful message to the world that we are standing together to save these majestic animals."
Wildlife Conservation Society's 96 Elephants Campaign organized the attempt. The name refers to the estimated 96 elephants killed every day in Africa.
The previous record of 33,764 stood for only two years and was set by the Zoological Society of London and Whipsnade Zoo in the U.K, Guinness said.
The world record adjudicator said that in order to gain the title of "largest display of origami elephants," the elephants "need to be crafted using standard origami folding technique, without the use of any adhesive. They also must be put on display and remain on display for at least five minutes."
If you want to take a look at the paper pachyderms yourself, the zoo says it plans to display many of them next month in a holiday show.
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