* This is a contributed article. The IBTimes news staff was not involved in the creation of this article and this content does not necessarily represent the views of IBTimes. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here are our T&C. For licensing please click here.
Zoolife
Zoolife Zoolife.Tv

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact, not just on human life, but on animals too. Thousands of zoos across the world were forced to shut down as a result of the pandemic.

The sudden drop in revenue has meant that many zoos had to sell many of their protected animals, which triggered ripple effects across conservation efforts as a whole.

Zoolife is the world’s first fully interactive Zoo. The company’s remote control camera technology allows nature lovers’ curiosity to run wild.

The platform allows animal lovers to observe the social dynamic of a lion pride, before taking a tour of the Gorilla enclosure with a few clicks of a button. The footage is raw, uncut and unpredictable; in fact, a baby giraffe was born live at Toronto Zoo last month, garnering attention from animal lovers across the nation.

Originally, remote control camera technology was used in sports stadiums. Yet as public events closed in the wake of Covid, Brizi had to seek alternative options. Zoo life CEO Anna Hu asks “Imagine a world where the only way to experience live football was to go to your local stadium?” She wants to bring the same global, interactive experience to the world of zoos and animals.

Hu took the bold decision to pivot her business and start using her remote control camera technology in zoos. This move has proved remarkably successful; the business is now providing much-needed income and support for pandemic-ravaged zoos. The camera installations, which provide 24/7 real-time online footage of the zoos’ inhabitants, have already been a big hit, and not just with animal lovers.

Zoolife currently features 22 live animal channels available 24/7. In fact, users on average watched almost 1000 minutes last month.

The videos of the animals deliver a host of different benefits. One of the most important is helping to boost people’s mental health, particularly during the tough years of lockdown.

Studies have conclusively shown that getting closer and feeling more connected with nature helps to significantly improve our mental health and wellbeing. Whether it’s looking at animals on video or in person, it has been proven to improve attention, positive emotions, and the ability to reflect rationally on life problems.

The team is made up of a small group of Canadian zoologists, digital natives and animal lovers, with 35 years of combined experience in zoos and animal sanctuaries. With their mission to reconnect humankind with nature, 50% of each purchase directly goes to funding animal care and conservation efforts.

The platform is proving to have immense educational value. The videos help children and adults, particularly teachers, parents, and seniors, to learn more about animals and how they live through the conservation work, listen to live commentary from expert speakers, and be able to ask questions in real-time.

Currently, Zoolife’s cameras are in five zoos worldwide: Toronto Zoo, San Antonio Zoo, Santa Barbara Zoo, Orana Wildlife Park in New Zealand, and the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in California. Users can access the different zoos with a day pass, monthly subscription, or annual membership, with more than 50 cents of every dollar of the fee being donated to animal conservation programs around the world.

Zoolife provides the closest possible interactive experience to actually visiting a zoo in person. It enables the user to view several different animals through one website and get a much closer view than they would normally ever get, as well as being able to watch species they have never seen before from different parts of the world.

The platform also allows people to watch the animals in their natural habitat at their convenience, anywhere at any time, even beyond their own geographic borders.

They have full control, being able to select the camera angle they want, and can also take part in Livestream questions and answers with zookeepers.

Described as the Netflix for Nature, Zoolife’s mission is to help humankind to reconnect with nature, and allow anyone, of any age, to experience the magic of wildlife. In doing so, Anna Hu hopes that Zoolife will inspire the next generation of animal lovers and conservationists