This is a conservation effort I have been involved in:

The orangutans (Pongos) and asian elephants at the zoo here have been busy painting pictures for a silent auction and art sale at a local gallery and other venues. The money raised from the sale of the pieces goes to help other orangutans and elephants thousands of miles away at the Kinabatangan Orangutan Conservation Project in Malaysia.



The six orangutan and three elephant artists have been painting for years as a means of keeping the animals stimulated. The adult orangutans paint with a long-handled brush onto canvases held by the keepers, Younger animals finger paint and the elephants paint with clumps of bristles in their trunks (they also have a tendancy to "kiss" the canvas with the end of their trunks.) Non-toxic paint is always used in case they decide to give it a taste.

http://www.houstonzoo.org/PongosRSVP/Index.aqf