Tokyo's Aquarium Sets Up Screens For People To FaceTime With Eels

The Sumida Aquarium in Tokyo is planning to call for help from the community as about 300 eels in this aquarium have become shy after COVID-19 lockdown. People are asked to play a virtual game with them – making FaceTime calls.

These garden eels used to get familiar with human thanks to tons of visitors dropping by the aquarium every day, but the natural instinct has come back.

In a public statement, Sumida’s officials said the behaviors of their eels began to change since the government released lockdown orders on March 1 due to the widespread epidemic.

Speaking of biological habits, these tiny sea creatures typically get very cautious if they live in a wild environment – they bury themselves under the sand surface of the ocean to get rid of surrounding threats for survival.

And as it turns out, it’s highly evident that the captive eels will soon revert back to its instinctive character.

Because of a non-human environment, they seem to forget about people. For instance, they’ll start fleeing to the sand whenever the staff passes by the tanks.

This poses a rising challenge to aquarists and zoologists, who are responsible for taking care of them at the facility. They now find it much harder to operate daily health checks and other measures.

Fortunately, the staff came up with an awesome idea – a “face-showing festival”. They set up five screens around the eels’ haven and people can make video calls through Apple’s FaceTime to see the eels, and the tiny creatures can also see the callers in return.

According to Sumida Aquarium, this temporary solution is expected to help both garden eels and animal lovers stay connected to each other amid the lockdown time.

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