Some penguins have waddled away and turned up their beaks on the sight of the cheaper fish. Picture: Courtesy of Hakone-en Aquarium
Hovering inflation and the rising value of residing have compelled tens of millions world wide to tighten their purse strings. In Japan, that toll has even trickled right down to penguins.
At Hakone-en Aquarium within the Kanagawa prefecture south of Tokyo, zookeepers are shopping for their animals cheaper meals to chop prices. As a substitute of being provided the standard fatty aji (Japanese horse mackerel), penguins and otters have been feeding on saba—a slimy, inexpensive protein—since Might.
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A few of the animals refuse to eat the cheaper meals. Whereas some peck at it gingerly, others flat out flip their beaks up at it.
“Even when they’ll take it of their beaks, they’ll simply spit it out,” Hiroki Shimamoto, the pinnacle zookeeper at Hakone-en, instructed VICE World Information.
In Japan, larger import prices and power costs—attributable to strains on the worldwide economic system as a result of COVID-19 pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine—have shocked residents. In April 2022, Japan’s consumer prices rose by 2.5 p.c, essentially the most since October 2014.
The price of operating the aquarium has risen by about 20 p.c for the reason that starting of the yr, Shimamoto mentioned, though he wasn’t licensed to say how a lot it spends on meals.
Along with choosing cheaper meals, the aquarium has needed to flip off lights and cut back the frequency of filtration tank cleansing, to the extent it doesn’t hurt the animals.
Shimamoto mentioned the aquarium first started transitioning its 20 penguins and 5 seals to cheaper mackerel in Might, with solely 10 p.c of their weight loss program being changed by the lower-priced protein. It has tightened its belt regularly and beginning July, about 30 to 40 p.c of the mammals’ meals shall be cheaper fish.
“I’m unsure if the animals can style a big distinction, however you possibly can inform they’re not used to it,” he mentioned.
However relaxation assured, the choosy eaters don’t starve. “For those who refuse to eat the brand new fish, we simply give them what they used to eat,” the zookeeper mentioned.
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