The sales of cultural and creative products of a zoo in Nanjing City, east China’s Jiangsu Province, doubled in the first eight months this year as the designers worked together with the breeders to create appealing products that captivate visitors emotionally.

Hongshan Forest Zoo has gained online popularity due to an array of animal stars that live there, including the white-faced saki "Dudu". Since the beginning of this year, over 5.3 million people have visited the zoo.

The zoo still did not anticipate the significant growth in sales of cultural and creative products it designed.

Beginning with mundane souvenirs like postcards, T-shirts, and key chains, the zoo has upgraded its products to include plush dolls, artistic head scarves, and handmade blind boxes, offering more diverse options to visitors, which have also won the hearts of them.

"Its name is Dudu. It is a refrigerator magnet. You can only get it from Hongshan Forest Zoo. I think it is special and meaningful to me," said a visitor.

To make the souvenirs more emotionally connected to visitors, the zoo has invited its breeders to be the consultants for the designers of its animal-based goods.

"We would communicate with the designers about the animals' postures, body shapes, the species around them, and their living environments, to try to present the most natural, real and lovely images of them," said Peng Peila, a breeder of the zoo.

By introducing breeders into the designing process of cultural and creative products, the zoo intends to popularize the ideas of animal protection.

"It’s more about the spread of some ideas behind them. We hope more people can buy them and learn more about wild animals and the ideas and stories of conservation of their habitats,” said Shen Zhijun, director of Hongshan Forest Zoo.