Would you cage marine animals for a nightlight? That’s exactly what home products company Biological & Popular Culture, Inc. (BioPop) is hoping. It’s marketing Dino Spheres, glass orbs filled with living dinoflagellates, or bioluminescent phytoplankton, as novelty glow-in-the-dark products.
The phytoplankton have a tail, or flagella, that they use to move through the water and are covered in complex shells. In nature, they normally stay near the sunny surface of the ocean and are a key food source for numerous sea animals, including whales, shrimp, snails, and jellyfish. Their bioluminescent glow is thought to be a defense mechanism.
When customers order a Dino Sphere or dinosaur-shaped Dino Pet, they receive an empty glass or plastic container with a plug and a package of live phytoplankton to dump into it. If a customer actually wants to feed the plankton, as opposed to letting them starve to death, that costs extra.
BioPop admits that the phytoplankton may not survive being shipped and might arrive dead. And if they do survive, they may die in as little as a month.
“Typically, a Dino Sphere will live for approximately 1 month to 3 months on nothing but a little indirect sunlight,” the company writes on its website. So apparently, when you notice that the animals are dying of starvation, you can either start giving them food or just let them all die, whichever you prefer.
If you opt to feed them but “just want to keep the same fill level,” BioPop says that you can just dump some of the animals down the drain. Seriously.
The company also provides this helpful note: “If you leave your Dino Sphere in a dark room for more than 4 days and they all expire,” (read: die) “you can also purchase refills of the dinoflagellates … (now available with zero guilt trips!).” So if you let the animals die, don’t feel bad about it! Just buy more animals—no one will even know!
Novelty trinkets shouldn’t cost animals their lives. Just say no to cruel toys, including the Dino Sphere, turtle keychains, seahorse necklaces, painted hermit crabs, scorpion nails, and RoboRoach.
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