Adelaide Zoo in Australia is raising awareness and funds for primate conservation by locking up human volunteers in disused primate exhibit for one month.

The Human Zoo project aims to create awareness of the closeness of humans to their primate cousins, provide a platform for research on animal behaviour and enrichment and raise funds to build Australia’s largest chimpanzee exhibit at Monarto Zoological Park in South Australia.

The humans, who are undertaking public auditions today (11 December) and tomorrow, will be on public display from 2 January next year, with groups of six being locked in for one week each.

Each week, the public will vote for their favourite contestant via text message – with each vote providing a conservation donation – and the four weekly winners will enter a final lock-in in a competition to find the overall winner. Details: www.humanzoo.com.au