They raise their beaks in disgust when it is time to eat. The otters also reject the new food.
The penguins and the otters in an aquarium of hers Japan face the consequences of inflation and they reject the new more economical foods offered to them by the site officials after a large price increase.
In the context of the effort to cut and reduce expenses, the Hakone Aquariumin central Japan’s Kanagawa prefecture, southwest of Tokyo, has done away with some of the traditional and more expensive foods, such as horse mackerel, in favor of cheaper mackerel.
But this change to the menu was not welcomed by all with some of the penguins turning up their beaks in disgust when it was time to eat.
“At first they put it in their mouths, but then they decide they don’t like it and throw it away,” aquarium manager Hiroki Shimamoto explains to AFP.
He speculates that the maladaptive penguins may have taken issue with the larger-than-usual size of their new meals.
“They sense something is wrong,” pdecreases.
The problem is even more acute with aquarium otters, which rejected the cheapest fish in droves, points out Shimamoto.
Aquarium officials said they made the decision to change the menu after prices for the saffron rose within a year by 20 to 30 percent, partly because of poor fishing.
The aquarium still buys and brats for foods, but has no plans to return to them exclusively unless prices fall, Shimamoto concludes.
“It all depends on when things get back to normal.”
RES-EMP
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