Non-Profit Foundation Launches Generative NFTs to Regenerate Our Tigers

To celebrate the Year of the Tiger, The Corbett Foundation (TCF), a non-profit foundation for saving royal Bengal tigers in tiger reserves across India, have been working on a very special campaign, ‘Generative NFTs to Regenerate our Tigers’.

While the trending phenomenon of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have blown up the global art scene, TCF wanted to use NFTs for a meaningful purpose, raising awareness for TCF’s commitment to helping Bengal tigers roam free across greater areas of land so they can repopulate and regenerate their numbers, in turn conserving the vast biodiversity of the nature reserves they inhabit.

Shockingly, there are only 2,967 Bengal tigers left in India. In 2010, governments around the world pledged to double the diminished tiger population, but sadly we are still a long way from getting tigers off the endangered species list. Furthermore, even as conservation efforts continue, one of the major concerns in tiger conservation, is the resources available to protect existing and create more tiger corridors that allow Bengal tigers from different reserves to move between their habitats, keeping tiger gene pools diverse and the population strong. TCF and partners want this to change by the time the next Year of the Tiger comes around.

Tiger stripes are one-of-a-kind, 100% unique to each tiger, much like thumbprints. Thus, TCF and partners decided to use the original and distinctive tiger stripe patterns of real tigers from The TCF reserve, as inspiration to bring awareness to the continued efforts in regenerating the tiger population in India.

In order to raise funds and awareness for endangered Bengal tigers in the world and to ensure they have a chance to thrive and are conserved for our future generations, TCF worked with partners BBDO Singapore and artist radarboy3000 to create a limited series of 2,967 NFTs based on real unique tiger stripes and put them up for purchase. All proceeds will be donated to TCF.

Inspired by the photographs of real tigers that TCF provided, radarboy3000 created a generative algorithm with potentially hundreds of thousands of variations but, limited the mint to 2,967 unique pieces of NFT artwork, where each NFT represents each Royal Bengal Tiger left in India. Generative Art is a term that stands for pieces of art that have gone through a generation process by an autonomous system resulting in a completed work of art. This generative art is considered a collaboration between an artist and autonomous system. These artworks themselves are formed by 2,967 ‘walkers’ roaming on a canvas, representing the tigers this project aims to help roam free so that they can repopulate.

"(Re) generative tigers uses an algorithm which generates unique works of art by taking data from photos of actual surviving tigers in the wild”, said radarboy3000. “Just like each tiger's stripes are unique, so is each artwork. Tigers in captivity can never be re-introduced to the wild. So, it’s imperative we protect them and preserve their habitat. I designed the work to be meditative, slowly evolving and revealing - signifying what is broken and lost, but also as a strong message of hope: that these beautiful animals will re-generate in numbers and be allowed to roam freely." He continued.

When asked about this initiative, Kedar Gore, director of TCF said: "The natural world constantly faces evolving threats, and amongst the vast number of species facing extinction includes the five species of tigers left. 

Having been at the forefront of tiger conservation in India for nearly 30 years, TCF wants to take a modern approach to creating opportunities for the community to bring a new hope to the last remaining tigers in the wild. Working with BBDO and radarboy3000 to create beautifully dynamic pieces of NFT artwork from actual photographs of tigers really helps bring the crux of the issue to life, and with the help of the sale of these NFTs, the rejuvenation of wild tigers.”

The NFTs will be listed on fxhash, an open platform that enables artists to create, mint, and collect generative NFTs. fxhash is powered by Tezos, a power efficient blockchain driven to provide green, clean blockchain innovation and technology.

Each of the 2,967 NFTs will be sold for approximately 2 tez (equivalent to US$8) and the proceeds raised will be donated towards TCF’s continued conservation work to keep tigers alive, roaming and growing.