Russian artist puts masks on insects to protect them from coronavirus

"It is necessary to save not only people but also animals and insects."

(Reuters) - Anatoly Konenko, a Russian artist famous for his miniature artworks, found a way to apply his skills in the pandemic situation - he created tiny masks for insects to symbolically protect them from coronavirus disease.

"Now, in this difficult time, we must understand now that it is necessary to save not only people but also animals and insects," Konenko told Reuters.

The artist used insects he and others found dead in the streets of the Russian city of Omsk as models for his new masks collection.

"This is a very comfortable mask," Konenko said holding a tiny mask made of medical fabric.

The artist created masks for a grasshopper, a wasp, a dragonfly, a buck, and a crab. He said that in the near future he will create masks for even smaller insects such as mosquitoes.

In 2002, Konenko was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the creator of the smallest book in the world. He made a miniature of a book with a story of Russian author, Anton Chekhov, ‘Chameleon’, the book had a size of 0.9 and 0.9 mm.