Utsunomiya Zoo in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan, is giving out lucky charms made from elephant dung to their visitors.
Ayako and the “lucky” charm
The zoo produced the exam success charms as presents for students preparing to sit university entrance exams. The zoo created the charms by extracting fiber from the dung of a 36-year-old Asian elephant, then sterilizing it and processing it into paper. The charms contain the word “pass” in red characters.
This year is the first time the zoo has tried making the elephant dung charms, but the response has been good, with visitors describing them as “cute”.
Ayako Nakamura, a 23-year-old zookeeper was credited with the idea of making the charm. [Mainichi]