Images of animals displayed on Empire State Building

NEW YORK (MYFOXNY) - The Empire State Building is famous for lighting up various colors representing sports teams, holidays, momentous occasions, causes, pop culture and more.

But Saturday night, August 1, 2015, something different unfolded. Images of mammals and sea creatures were projected onto the south facade of the iconic skyscraper to draw attention to global conversation about mass extinction, according to the building's management.

Empire State Realty Trust partnered with filmmaker Louis Psihoyos, an Academy Award winner and the co-founder of Oceanic Preservation Society.

The video projection began at 9 p.m. and ran through midnight.

Interest in the presentation was especially high in the wake of the killing of a protected lion in Zimbabwe this week.