Aquarium visitors say they feel cheated by ‘whale shark’ that isn’t all it seems
Xiaomeisha Sea World says Chinese law does not allow keeping real whale shark
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Aquarium enthusiasts in China were left shocked when they discovered that a much-hyped giant whale shark on display was, in reality, a robot.
The Xiaomeisha Sea World in Shenzhen reopened its doors on 1 October to feature the star shark after being shut for five years for renovations.
During its week-long trial run, the sea park spread over 60,000sqm attracted around 100,000 visitors who each paid £30 to enter the aquarium. But, much to their disappointment, the majestic shark swirling around in the large tank turned out to be a manmade imitation.
Some of the livid visitors demanded a refund while others took to social media to lambast the marine park. “The venue is not large enough and even the whale shark is artificial,” said one of the visitors, according to the New York Post.
"By 3pm, people were already demanding refunds."
The Sea World defended itself saying it had spent millions of Chinese yuan to construct the robotic shark to adhere to Chinese laws that ban the trade of whale sharks. In 2019, China banned shark finning along with the deliberate catching of sharks in the open seas.
The Sea World claimed that their intention was never to "catfish" visitors. “Even though it’s for the sake of animal protection, I’d rather they didn’t have one at all than show a fake one,” a Chinese social media user said, according to the Post.
A company in Shenyang announced in August that it had produced the world's first intelligent robotic whale shark that could swim, float, dive, open and close its mouth. The bionic shark was nearly five metres long and weighed 350kg, state media CGTN reported.
The shark could be operated remotely and came equipped with features such as programme-controlled swimming and multi-joint bionic propulsion. The robot could swim at a maximum speed of 0.7m per second and dive 20m deep, according to CGTN.
In the past, Chinese zoos have painted dogs to look like pandas. Some visitors at the Shanwei Zoo in Guangdong province this year realised they were not looking at pandas when the animals began panting and barking. In a visitor’s video, one of the “pandas” was visibly panting while resting on a rock while another clip had a panda with a long tail strolling about.
Another zoo in eastern China’s Jiangsu province charged visitors £2.22 for a new exhibition featuring “panda dogs”.
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