This whimsical iOS game brings 19th-century Philly Zoo animals to life

The ostriches, elephants and other animals that lived at the Philadelphia Zoo in the 1880s come to life in a whimsical iOS game called Floyd’s Worthwhile Endeavor.

Get it for free here.

West Philly developer David Hilowitz was inspired by 19th-century photographer Eadward Muybridge‘s “animal locomotion” series, where Muybridge tried to capture how animals moved. Muybridge worked at Penn and took photographs of animals that the Philadelphia Zoo loaned him. Hilowitz traced the photographs in Photoshop and animated them for the game.

Part of Eadward Muybridge’s animal locomotion series.

The game, Hilowitz said, has been downloaded about 5,000 times since its launch at the beginning of January. It’s free for now but will become $0.99 after a few more updates, he said.

Hilowitz, who also works remotely for a mobile develop shop in Providence, R.I., began working on the game when he lived in San Antonio, Tex. He moved to Philadelphia last summer because of his wife’s job.