Latest news with #crickets
France 24
10-08-2025
- Entertainment
- France 24
The Bright Side: Humble bugs are popular pets in nature-loving Japan
The pet of choice in Japan, as much as cuddly kitties and playful puppies, is the humble bug. The bug has been a key part of Japanese culture from the Heian era classic 'The Tale of Genji' to popular modern-day manga and animation like 'Mushishi', featuring insect-like supernatural creatures. Japanese people appreciate the glitter of fireflies let loose in the garden or the gentle chirping of crickets kept in a little cage. You can feed the bug pets watermelon, but special jelly pet food for bugs is also available at stores. Naturally, bugs are on sale as well, with the more esoteric ones selling for 20,000 yen ($133). Here, crawly and buzzing critters are not just relegated to the scientific realm of the entomologist working on a taxidermy of pinned butterflies. Celebrities boast about their fascination with bug-hunting as their hobbies just like a Western movie star might talk about his yacht or golf score. The bug as companion is an essential part of what's observed, enjoyed and cared for in everyday life, reflecting a deeply rooted celebration of humankind's oneness with nature. 'They are so tiny. If you catch and study them, you're sure to discover something new,' says Munetoshi Maruyama, professor of bioenvironmental sciences at Kyushu University, whose fascination with bugs began as a child, like many Japanese. 'They are so beautiful in shape and form.' One thrill that comes from studying insects is discovering a new species, simply because there are more than 1.2 million known kinds of insects, far more than mammals, which translates to a lot of undiscovered ones, said Maruyama, who has discovered 250 new insect species himself and shrugs that off as a relatively small number. Japan differs from much of the West in encouraging interaction with bugs from childhood, with lots of books written for children, as well as classes and tours. 'In Japan, kids love bugs. You can even buy a net at a convenience store,' he said. 'It's fantastic that bugs can serve as a doorway to science.' The fact some insects go through metamorphoses, transforming from a larva to a butterfly, for instance, adds to the excitement, allowing kids to observe the stages of a life span, Maruyama said. Tracing the movement of bugs can be a way to study global warming, too, while so-called 'social insects', like bees and ants show intelligence in how they communicate, remember routes to find their way back to their nests or burrow elaborate underground paths as colonies. Because bugs carry out important functions in the ecosystem, such as pollinating crops and becoming food for birds and other wildlife, human life isn't ultimately sustainable if all bugs were to disappear from earth. The love affair with bugs was clear at an exhibit in Tokyo, aptly called 'The Great Insect Exhibition', running through the end of this month at the Sky Tree Tower, where crowds of children gathered around trees inside indoor cages so they could observe and touch the various beetles. One kind of rhinoceros beetle known as Hercules, which originated in the Caribbean but is now also found in Japan, is reputed to be the biggest beetle on record, although it's just several inches in length. Its back coat is a shiny khaki color, though such shades change depending on the season. The other parts, like its horn and delicate but spiky legs, are dark. 'We want the kids to feel the emotions and joy of actually touching the insects here. That's really positive for the workings of a child's brain,' said Toyoji Suzuki, one of the event's organizers, who insisted everyone, including adults, touch the bottom of the beetles' horns and wings to feel how surprisingly soft and fluffy they are. Four-year-old Asahi Yamauchi, who was at the exhibit with his grandmother and getting his photo taken inside a special installation that made it look like he was inside a beetle, loves bugs as much as he loves dinosaurs and has what he called a cute beetle as a pet at home. 'My friend had one so I wanted one,' he said.
CBC
13-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
London, Ont. cricket plant ordered into receivership amid $41M debt obligation
Months after it announced layoffs impacting two-thirds of its workforce, Aspire Food Group, the London-based insect agriculture firm specializing in farming crickets for use as protein, has been ordered into receivership by an Ontario court. Last week, a Superior Court of Ontario justice ordered that FTI Consulting be appointed receiver of Aspire and its related entities, and all "assets, undertakings, and properties" acquired or used by the firm at its Innovation Drive facility, along with its proceeds. The order followed an application filed by Farm Credit Canada (FCC) in February to appoint FTI Consulting as receiver and manager, saying Aspire owed it nearly $41.5 million under an amended credit agreement reached the previous year. Aspire opened the plant in 2022 with the goal of producing up to 13 million kilograms of the insect annually for use as an alternative consumable protein source, it's co-founder told CBC News at the time. A vast majority of the plant's production was for the pet-food industry. The plant was opened with the help of roughly $25 million in federal funding through NGen under Ottawa's Innovation Supercluster Initiative, and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. In November, Aspire announced it would lay off 100 of its 150 workers at the plant to renovate its production system, with plans to rehire workers this summer. In its application, FCC says Aspire built the London facility based on "proprietary cricket growth and harvesting methodology" developed in a research and development facility in Austin, Texas. Since opening in London, the company had been unsuccessful in replicating the methodology, and had failed in commercializing and scaling its operations, FCC's application says. "As a result of the fundamental operational issues plaguing the Facility, the Aspire Group has not been able to produce positive cash flow/earnings and production has come to a complete halt in order for the Aspire Group to focus on research and development." It adds FTI was brought on as a consultant to monitor Aspire's monthly statements and operating metrics. Aspire was also required by FCC to sustain a minimum cash balance of $1 million. "Notwithstanding these amendments, the Aspire Group has failed to recommence production, and its working capital is rapidly depleting," FCC's application reads, adding Aspire was in default of the agreement after failing to maintain the required cash balance. CBC News has reached out to Aspire CEO Mark Rosenberg, co-founder Mohammed Ashour, and legal counsel for Farm Credit Canada and FTI Consulting for comment. This story will be updated when they respond. Ongoing money trouble A factum filed by FCC in late February highlights some causes of Aspire's ongoing financial difficulties. Among them, the drying up of government grants and cost reimbursement programs it had previously relied on, and "current economic uncertainty and market volatility" from threatened U.S. tariffs on goods imported from Canada. In a supplementary factum filed on May 1, FCC said that it had given Aspire many opportunities to resolve its issues, including opportunities to secure emergency liquidity to meet payroll obligations, and additional time to finalize repayment. "Despite these accommodations, the Aspire Group has not been successful in formalizing any repayment transaction that will see the indebtedness repaid in the short or long-term," the document says. "At this juncture, it has become clear to FCC that the possibility of the Aspire Borrowers finalizing a repayment transaction in the near term and on terms satisfactory to FCC is negligible." Since opening, the London plant has been dogged by bizarre conspiracy theories that it's part of a shadowy government plot to force people to eat insects. In 2022, Aspire signed a memorandum of understanding with a Korea-based food distribution company to identify markets in Asia and Europe for its product.
