Meet Christopher. A 13-year-old, 400-pound African male lion, he’s been a resident of the Franklin Park Zoo since 2001. Twice a day, Christopher gets the zoo equivalent of room service. On the menu: 11 pounds of horse meat a day, except Wednesday. On Wednesdays, Christopher only gets a bone. Fasting “helps to replicate the eating patterns of lions in the wild, where they typically gorge on some days, and do not eat on others,” says David Hirschberg, vice president of institutional advancement at the zoo.

We’ll take his word for it.