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ANIMAL TRACKER

Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Apr 11, 2007
Greenshank
* Japanese name: Aoashi-shigi * Scientific name: Tringa nebularia * Description: An elegant, medium-sized wading bird (some 30-cm long in the body), the greenshank lives up to its name: It has long green legs ("shanks"). It also has a long sharp bill, which is gray at the base and, unlike other waders' bills, is slightly upturned. In summer, the breeding season, greenshanks are brown, and in winter their plumage turns gray and gray-brown. When they fly, a white wedge can be seen on the back. The underparts are white. Greenshanks call regularly; the alarm call is a loud, three-syllable whistle. They perform elaborate, swerving, high-speed mating flights as if they are dancing in the air. There are two similar species of wader: the greater yellowlegs, and the spotted redshank. No prizes for guessing the color of these birds' legs. * Where to find them: In Honshu and Hokkaido, near pools on moorland and bogs, around lakes and marshes, estuaries and swamps. Greenshanks breed on dry ground near marshy feeding areas; they lay four eggs in a scrape on the ground that serves as a nest. * Food: Worms, insect larvae, snails and fish. Waders forage by digging in shallow water and marshy ground for prey. They pry snails out of their shells with the sharp bill, or use it to stab small fish. * Special features: Greenshanks have an extensive range, and breed in the northern hemisphere in subarctic climes, from Scotland to northern Japan. But for the winter they embark on long migrations to Africa, southern Asia or Australasia, and spend the time feeding in freshwater areas. However, the timing of migration, which has evolved over tens of thousands of years, is now changing. Greenshanks and other waders are starting to migrate to their breeding grounds earlier in the year, and then leave for their winter grounds later in the year. The change in timing is correlated with climate change: warmer conditions mean they don't have to spend as long in the wintering area. These birds are lucky in this respect -- they are flexible and to some extent can adjust their behavior to cope with climate change. Other species, and especially plants, which can't fly to a more suitable climate, are not so lucky
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Mar 28, 2007
Tree sparrow
* Japanese name: Suzume * Scientific name: Passer montanus * Description: A small bird, some 12.5- to 14-cm long, it has a rich brown-colored head, with a hint of copper. There is a black patch on the cheeks and a double white bar across the brown wings. Males and females are almost identical in size and plumage. On the ear coverts there is a distinctive triangular black patch, and the chin and throat are also black. In summer, the bill is gray-blue; in winter almost black. The legs are pale brown. A short tail is almost always cheekily cocked. The young look much like the adults. The tree sparrow's call is a modest "chip," whereas the song is a more musical arrangement of "chips" and "chirps." * Where to find them: A common Japanese bird, the tree sparrow is found all over the islands, from Hokkaido to Okinawa, tending toward more rural areas, large gardens, open farmland, hedgerows and lone trees and small woods. It likes nest boxes and will also live on coastal cliffs. Tree sparrows sometimes build a domed nest inside the old nest of a larger bird, such as a magpie. Its slightly larger and bolder cousin, the house sparrow, is more common in urban areas. Tree sparrows are also found across the rest of Asia, and Europe. * Food: Tree sparrows pick seeds both direct from trees and from the ground, and love a nice bit of caterpillar. * Special features: A generalist to rival the crow, the tree sparrow's greatest feature is its very ordinariness. In most cultures where they live, the sparrow has been incorporated into folklore, and Japan is no exception. The most famous Japanese fairytale involving sparrows is "Shita-kiri Suzume (The Tongue-cut Sparrow)," in which a kind old man helps an injured sparrow but his greedy jealous wife goes and ruins things. In Britain, the bird, once common, has been declining rapidly for unknown reasons. It lays four to six small brown eggs. Usually one egg is lighter with a different pattern to the others -- probably the chick from this egg, if it hatches, is doomed, unless a kindly old man happens to be around to nurse it.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Mar 14, 2007
Teal
* Japanese name: Kogamo * Scientific name: Anas crecca crecca * Description: A small, surface-feeding dabbling duck, the teal is 34- to 38-cm long and has a 58- to 64-cm wingspan. Males (known as drakes) have an orange-chestnut colored head with a large stripe of emerald green, trimmed with a thin thread of gold, from the eye to the back of the head. The chest is spotted gray, and the tail is yellow with a black edge. As usual, females are dull-looking, with mottled brown plumage that's much like the more familiar female mallard. Both sexes have bright-green wing patches that can be seen in flight, and this is why they are also known as green-winged teal. You may hear males emit a plaintive "prip-prip" whistle. And females? They quack. * Where to find them: On lakes and ponds in Honshu and Hokkaido, and in wetlands and marsh areas. In the winter they migrate south and live on estuaries and coastal lagoons, or inland in large numbers where there is shelter and shallow water. Their nests are on the ground, but hard to find, as they are situated in thick bushes near ponds. Females lay eight to 11 eggs. * Food: Seeds and small animals they can sift out of the shallows. This includes many invertebrates such as snails, worms and insect larvae. * Special features: A cute little duck, for sure, but the teal has a rather unsavory side as well. The ducks form pair-bonds, but the drakes are not satisfied with one female duck. They search out other females, and use a variety of sneaky behaviors in order to have their way with them. Often, they will keep their eye on others around so they know when neighboring females are fertile. Then they will visit nesting sites and approach the targeted female directly. They even swim underwater, commando-style, and capture females. But here's the unsavory bit: Male ducks have a penis -- that doesn't sound so surprising, although most male birds don't have this organ -- and they use it to forcibly copulate with these other females. If you see a male teal swimming submarine-style toward a female, you can bet that's what he's up to.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Feb 28, 2007
Tree nymph butterfly
* Japanese name: Ogomadara * Scientific name: Idea leuconoe * Description: This large, striking, black-and-white butterfly is also known as the rice-paper butterfly, perhaps because of the unusual texture of the wings, but also perhaps because the way it flits and floats in the air is said to be like a piece of paper drifting in the wind. Another name is the paper-kite butterfly. It is a giant insect, the largest butterfly in Japan, with a wingspan of 95 to 110 mm. The black spots along the bottom edges of the wings are unevenly joined together, as are the spots just above them, giving the wings a ragged, striped appearance. The chrysalis is yellow with black marks. The base of the wings, where they join the thorax, are tinted yellow. The front legs, should you get close enough to notice, are short and brush-like and useless for walking. They have club-shaped antennae. * Where to find them: This animal is probably most likely to be seen in butterfly parks and farms, where it is a popular insect. The tree nymph is attracted to the color red, and will land on red shirts and hats. In the wild it can be seen from Kyushu to Okinawa, in fields and woodland. It is also seen across Southeast Asia. * Food: These butterflies seek out lianes and vines, and milkweed, which are all creeping plants that grow around trees. Many of these plants contain bitter-tasting alkaloids, and it is thought that the female locates the correct plants to lay her eggs on by smelling out the alkaloids. * Special features: The plant alkaloids apparently have a similar structure to the male pheromones of this butterfly, so it appears that there has been an ancient evolutionarily relationship between the butterfly and its food plant. Probably the alkaloids evolved first, and male nymph butterflies evolved to have similar-smelling pheromones. Alkaloids in plants that the butterfly does not feed on are completely unlike the male pheromone. The caterpillars accumulate the bitter alkaloids in their bodies, protecting them from predation. The alkaloids remain in the insect's tissue even when it transforms into an adult. Through literally bitter experience, predators learn to avoid both the caterpillars and the adults.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Feb 14, 2007
Indian blue peafowl
* Japanese name: Kujaku * Scientific name: Pavo cristatus * Description: Large birds far more often seen on the ground than in the air, peafowl are unmistakable. The male -- the peacock -- has a vibrant royal-blue neck and breast, a white "face" and a gigantic ornamental tail that may be dragged along the ground folded up, or held up in an imperious fan. The iridescent feathers each end in an electric blue "eye." Actually, this is not the tail -- the peacock's train is made of elongated feathers above the tail. The real tail is, like the female's, short and brown. In the wild, males will molt and lose their trains each year in late summer. * Where to find them: Peafowl are not native to Japan but, like elsewhere in the world, the bird has been introduced into parks and gardens across the country, especially in auspicious Imperial gardens and certain temple grounds in Kyoto. Perhaps belying their extreme ornamentation and beauty, peafowl are very hardy, adapting to fairly extreme temperatures. For this reason, they have thrived outside of their home range, and are sometimes kept as "watchdogs," as they will set up a loud and distinctive wail if disturbed. Intelligent birds, peafowl can be trained to come when called. They have been kept domestically for millennia, but if you want to see them in the wild you'll have to go to India (where it is the national bird), Pakistan or Sri Lanka. * Food: Seeds and fruit. Also insects and the occasional lizard. * Special features: Charles Darwin was tormented by the peacock's tail, until he realized that it evolved not as a survival advantage, but as a mating advantage. Peahens like to mate with males with the biggest, brightest and most symmetrical tails, and those with the most eye-spots. Why? It turns out that such males have the best genes. Males don't help rearing the young, and they mate with up to six hens per season. In Japan the bird has a long history, and is associated with Kujaku Myo-o, a Buddhist god who protects against calamity and drought.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jan 10, 2007
Peregrine falcon
* Japanese name: Hayabusa * Scientific name: Falco peregrinus * Description: Powerful and majestic birds, peregrine falcons are as large as a crow, some 50-cm long with a 1-meter wingspan. They have tapered, blue-gray wings, a short tail, yellow legs, black bars on their backs and pale underbellies. There is a black "mustache" on the face. The underside of the wings -- the view you are most likely to see -- are white with black stripes and spots. The bill is sharp and hooked. They are silent apart from a sharp "kek-kek-kek" when on the nest. * Where to find them: Along rocky sea cliffs, in mountains and around marshlands where other birds are likely to be massed, from Hokkaido to Honshu. However, they have relatively recently adapted to urban life, and pairs have been found living on the top of high-rise buildings in city centers. In natural conditions, the nests are simple depressions in the ground called "scrapes." In the 1960s, populations crashed as the falcons -- top-level predators that they are -- suffered from organochlorine pesticides such as DDT, which made the shells of their eggs too thin to be viable. * Food: Medium-size birds, watch out; ducks, shorebirds, ptarmigans, grouse, doves and songbirds -- peregrine falcons prey almost exclusively on other birds. In cities, they will take pigeons and starlings. * Special features: Speed. When I was young, peregrine falcons were my favorite birds for one reason: They are the fastest animal on the planet. When they attack a prey bird, in a hunting dive called a "stoop," they reach speeds in excess of 300 kph. Some birds have been recorded diving at an incredible 390 kph. To breathe while traveling at such speeds, the bird has a specialized respiratory system. The lungs are supplemented by air sacs where gas exchange does not occur, but from where air is pumped into the lungs to keep them inflated at all times, even when the bird is breathing out. Peregrine falcons also have special cones in their nostrils to regulate air flow when diving at high speeds. The heart is as strong as the bird is fast, beating 268 times per minute.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Dec 13, 2006
Nuthatch
* Japanese name: Gojukara * Scientific name: Sitta europaea * Description: The nuthatch is a charismatic, plucky little bird, about the size of a great tit, though a little plumper. It is a subtle blue-gray color above and white below. The sides of the bird, and its tail, are chestnut, but it is unmistakable for two characteristics -- the black stripe on the head, and the long, black, dagger-like bill. * Where to find them: In broadleaved woodlands, especially of oaks. They can also be seen in wooded parks and gardens. Nuthatches are common birds, found from Hokkaido to Kyushu. Look for them on the sides of tree trunks, and clinging to the undersides of branches. They don't stray far from the woods where they were raised in, but will enter gardens for food, especially if the garden contains a mature oak or beech tree. They nest in holes in trees and can be seen year-round. * Food: Insects, from caterpillars to cicadas and, as their English name suggests, nuts. Their favorites are hazel nuts, though the birds also eat acorns, beechmast and other nuts and seeds. * Special features: The Japanese name translates as "50 tit" -- a reference to its resemblance to birds in the tit family. It's a missed opportunity -- I think the Japanese name should make reference to the ninja-like black stripe across the birds' eyes. Fearless and aggressive, they can be seen running up and down trees in fast bursts. You will notice if a nuthatch is in your garden because regular garden birds will stay away. Their call is a loud, ringing "tuit-tuit," and they also make a rattling "pee, pee, pee" call. The loud crack of nuts is another noise often heard when nuthatches are around. They wedge their shelled nuts in cracks in bark and have a well-developed brain that helps them to remember where they've hidden food. Nuthatches live for up to 11 years. When they breed, they raise six to nine chicks; the female incubates the eggs alone, but both sexes feed the young. After 25 days, the young birds fledge and leave the nest.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Nov 22, 2006
Three-spined stickleback
* Japanese name: Hario * Scientific name: Gasterosteus aculeatus leiurus * Description: Small, perky fish, as adults sticklebacks are typically between 6- and 10-cm long. They have 30 to 40 lateral armor plates along their sides, and also three long dorsal spines that can be raised. * Where to find them: In cool, clear freshwater lakes, ponds and streams, from Hokkaido to Honshu. * Food: Plankton and insect larvae, also water fleas, worms, snails, sometimes fish eggs and occasionally algae. Despite the three protective spines, many other fish eat sticklebacks, as do many water birds. * Special features: The stickleback has a special place in the hearts of both school children and zoologists. The archetypal fish kept in a jar by generations of children, the stickleback is also a model organism in the study of animal behavior. Males build nests on the riverbed or bottom of a pond, and defend them. During the courtship season, the males develop a red chin and belly, a signal which acts as both a challenge to other males, and a mating beacon to females full of eggs and ready to mate. The fish produce the red pigment from carotenoids in their food, so a male that is brighter red that others is probably one that has been successful in foraging. Hence the signal informs rival males on the likely strength of their opponent, and to females of the quality of their potential mates. The strength of the male is important not just for their genes: Once the female has laid her eggs in the nest, the stickleback male defends them, and fans water across the eggs, ensuring they receive a good supply of oxygen. Sticklebacks have four color photoreceptors in their eyes, one more than we have. This means they can see the three colors we can see, plus light in ultraviolet wavelengths. As if all that weren't enough, the stickleback has also had its genome sequenced.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Nov 8, 2006
Chiton
* Japanese name: Hizara-gai * Scientific name: Acanthopleura japonica * Description: Chitons are mollusks, not bivalves like mussels, but single-shelled animals like limpets. To the casual observer, though, these creatures, which grow to about 4-cm long, might not be noticed, as they blend in extremely well with the rocks and clumps of marine plants growing on the seashore. They are, however, easily identifiable by the eight calcareous plates on their back. The plates, which form a "shell," are embedded in a strong muscular "foot" or mantle, which they use to cling strongly to the rocks, and which they can also use to creep slowly around. A frizzy edge can be seen protruding from the calcareous plates -- this is the top of the foot. The gills, used to extract oxygen from the sea water, may also be seen hanging out at the posterior end of the animal. The Japanese name hizara means "pipe bowl" or "fire bowl," and seems to refer to the fuzzy protruding edge of the mantle -- presumably because it looks a bit like tobacco in a pipe. * Where to find them: On the seashore, plastered to rocks, all over Japan, from Hokkaido to Okinawa. * Food: Algae. It might not look like much, but the chiton is often one of the dominant herbivores on rocky shores in East Asia. Although they only graze on algae, they have tough mouth parts, and tiny particles of coral and stone break off as the chitons scrape away at the algae. The scraping organ is called a radula, which is a type of tongue carrying several rows of tough little teeth. The scraping action can contribute to the erosion of coral islands in tropical and subtropical parts of the world. The teeth are covered in a layer of magnetite, a hard mineral containing iron. Some species are carnivorous, craftily raising their body from the rock and then clamping down on small crustaceans or even small fish that swim underneath for shelter. * Special features: The protective plates of the chiton are made of a carbonate mineral called aragonite. These animals don't always move slowly. If a chiton is attacked it can roll into a ball like a hedgehog, and the eight plates allow the animal the flexibility to cling tightly to irregularly shaped surfaces. Chitons have many predators so need to be able to hang on to rocks and rely on their aragonite shell. Predators include gulls, starfish, crabs, fish and sea anemones. The flexibility also allows it to squeeze into small cracks, into which hard-shelled mollusks can't fit, to escape from the sun when the tide is out. PHOTO COURTESY OF BIO-IMAGE NET
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Oct 25, 2006
Wide-abdomen mantid
* Japanese name: Harabiro-kamakiri * Scientific name: Hierodula patellifera * Description: There are several species of praying mantids in Japan, and this is one of the smaller-sized ones. Males grow to between 45-65 mm long, with the females a bit bigger at 52-70 mm. Interestingly, it comes in two different colors -- green, and the slightly rarer brown type (pictured above) -- although both are members of the same species. All mantids have excellent vision, and they are unusual among insects in being able to turn their heads -- a useful skill for a predator that attacks with a rapid striking action. Mantids are unmistakable with their triangular heads and large eyes, their fearsomely pronged forelegs and their long blade-shaped abdomens and wings. * Where to find them: Wide-abdomen mantids are active for a good chunk of the year, from July to November, in woodlands and parks from Honshu to Kyushu. * Food: Other insects. A classic sit-and-wait predator, the mantid is hard to spot until it moves, when it strikes with deadly speed to impale its prey on the spines on its front legs. * Special features: One way of knowing you have spotted a wide-abdomen mantid is if you see it curling the abdomen, flexing it away from the wings and showing the top surface. If you look closely you will see that the abdomen will also be pumping. An individual doing this means only one thing: it is a virgin female advertising for a mate. The insects go through six or seven nymphal stages (miniature versions of adults) until the final molt. About two weeks after this, females start curling their abdomens ready for sex. The pumping action facilitates the release of pheromones to attract males, who probably need a chemical lure because mating is sometimes the last thing they ever do. If a female is hungry, she may attack, decapitate, and consume the male as he approaches her to mate. By doing this she provides herself and the eggs she will lay with vital nutrients, to give her offspring the best start in life. As long as the male has got himself into the mating position, this is not too much of a problem as he doesn't need his head to copulate. Tempting though it may be, this shouldn't be read as a fable for human sexual relations.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Oct 11, 2006
Spangle
* Japanese name: Kuro-ageha * Scientific name: Papilio protenor * Description: This is a stunning, exotic and beautiful butterfly with black-and-white forewings patterned almost like a zebra, and black hindwings with a delicate white border and deep red eyespots with black centers. The borders of the hindwings are scalloped and usually end in a large teardrop -- not very good for flying, but highly distinctive in marking this species out to be a swallowtail; it is also known as the black swallowtail. A large insect, it has a wingspan of up to 100 to 140 mm; females are bigger than males. * Where to find them: Spangles are common in parks, gardens and grasslands in many parts of Asia, including Japan from Honshu to Okinawa; they can even be seen in Tokyo. * Food: Spangles feed only on flowers of shrubs and trees of the Rutaceae family. This includes the citrus plants, oranges, lemons and mikan. The flowers of these trees have a strong scent. * Special features: Females of the swallowtail group have evolved very specific preferences both for the flowers they will feed at, and for the plants on which they will lay their eggs (females usually lay two broods a year, in April-May and again in July-August). They distinguish their favored plant species by smell, but there is a reason for their fussiness: the caterpillars survive and grow better if they find themselves on just the right species of host plant when they hatch. This might have something to do with a big morphological and chemical change that the caterpillars undergo in their final molt. They produce pigments and chemicals synthesized from their food that have a defensive role against predators. In the Kanto region, this black swallowtail was once called kamakuracho (butterfly of Kamakura), apparently because their elegant black form reminded people of the clothes worn by the samurai of Kamakura, the capital of Japan from 1192-1333. It's a shame the name "samurai butterfly" didn't take hold.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Sep 27, 2006
Gigi catfish
* Japanese name: Gigi * Scientific name: Pelteobagrus nudiceps * Description: This is a rather small, 10- to 15-cm-long bottom-dwelling river fish that is remarkable for being one of the few aquatic organisms to have a voice. Fishermen report that when a gigi catfish is landed, it emits a "giiii-giiii" noise -- hence the name. The fish's fins -- the dorsal, two ventral, pelvic and pectoral -- are well developed and the caudal (tail) fin is deeply forked. With all those fins, the fish is able to accurately control its position in a fast-flowing river by continually adjusting the flow rate of water around its body. It has several long barbels (the sensory "whiskers" that give catfish their name) around the mouth. Catfish don't have scales, and the body ranges from an almost translucent gray to a stony, moss-colored green. They live for four to five years. * Where to find them: In Honshu and Kyushu, around rocks at the bottom of rivers. It is mainly fishermen who know about gigi catfish, as they are difficult to spot among a riverbed's dark rocks. * Food: Small crustaceans and insect larvae, small fish and tadpoles. Gigi catfish can hunt in the murky water at the bottom of the river, using their motion-detecting barbels to locate prey. * Special features: In northeast Asia there are about 20 species of catfish in the same genus, Pelteobagrus, as the gigi. Most, including the gigi, are sexually dimorphic. Males "let it all hang out" -- they are unusual among fish in possessing external genital organs, in this case palps (they don't have a penis). Females can sometimes be easily identified as, if they are carrying eggs, they will be clearly visible through the transparent body walls. The eggs are a blue-green color. The male constructs a rocky nest for the female, into which she lays her eggs. Both parents guard the eggs for the first few weeks as they develop. Research indicates that a substance derived from the oil of the gigi catfish has immune-system-boosting properties. It has been investigated as a treatment for tuberculosis patients, as the oil is supposed to promote the healing of lung damage caused by the disease.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Sep 13, 2006
Elephant hawkmoth
* Japanese name: Beni-suzume * Scientific name: Deilephila elpenor lewisii * Description: Large, remarkably handsome insects with a wingspan of 62-72 mm, adult elephant hawkmoths are a velvety, olive-brown in color with a gorgeous pink flush to the wings and the sides of the abdomen. They also have pink stripes on the abdomen and the leading edges of the wings, and a pink spot on the forewings. The hindwings are pink, though the undersides are white. When they fly, elephant hawkmoths seem to shimmer a gold-pink color in the air. * Where to find them: From Honshu to Kyushu, elephant hawkmoths can be seen in damp woodlands and parks, and suburban areas. They fly from late May until early August, although sometimes they can be seen in September. Adults that emerge early in the year may lay two broods in the season. The eggs are a pale-green color, up to 1.5 mm in diameter. * Food: Nectar from flowers, especially honeysuckle. Adults can sometimes be seen feeding in small groups. The larvae eat plants that are common in gardens, such as willowherb, garden fuchia and bedstraw, so they are quite often seen in urban areas. They are nocturnal, but can sometimes be seen basking in the sun on their food plants. * Special features: The English name was given not for the size, but for the supposed resemblance of the caterpillar to an elephant's trunk. The caterpillars grow very long, up to 90 mm, and on the tail end they sport a large spine. At the front end there are four large spots that resemble eyes; if the animal is startled it withdraws its head and thorax into the abdomen, causing the eyespot area to swell. The appearance is something like a weird, rearing snake. Caterpillars gorge themselves until late autumn, when they move down to the ground, transform into a pupae, and remain that way over winter before emerging as adult moths in the spring.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Aug 23, 2006
Forest green tree frog
* Japanese name: Moriao-gaeru * Scientific name: Rhacophorus arboreus * Description: A cute little, beautiful green frog; males are 4-6 cm long, females are 6-8 cm long. The backs can be mottled with brown speckles, and the number of these speckles varies according to where in the country they live. The fingers and toes have round suckers. The eyes are red but have a rainbow reflection. * Where to find them: In Honshu, in forests, around rice fields, and in marshy land. They live in mountainous forests as high up as 2,000 meters. In the breeding season, the frogs can be found near ponds and lakes, but outside of this time they live in trees in forests. They are nocturnal and endemic to Japan. In the winter they hibernate in mud. * Food: Insects and spiders. Their predators are snakes, weasels, foxes, racoon dogs and badgers. * Special features: Mating takes place from April to July, which is quite a long breeding season for a frog. Males call from trees near water to attract females. Once they have paired up, the couple find a suitable branch and, kicking their legs, produce a mass of sticky foam some 10-15 cm long. Foam-making, mating and egg-laying takes 1 to 2 hours. Amazingly, between 300 and 500 eggs are laid in the foamy mass, and they develop there for a week, kept moist and safe above the water where they are safe from hungry fish. You can see trees covered in foam, from a distance looking like strange white-yellow flowers. The surface of the foam dries and forms a protective shell. This is the only frog in Japan that lays its eggs in trees. After a week, the eggs hatch and when it next rains, the tadpoles squirm through the foam and drop into the water below. With the inevitable loss of suitable habitat, frogs may lay their foam masses on buildings. This frog has been accorded "special natural monument" status in Japan, meaning that it is one of the animals considered essential for the understanding of Japanese natural history and culture -- it's a bit like the frog equivalent of cherry blossom.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Aug 9, 2006
Drone beetle Kanabun
* Scientific name: Rhomborrhina japonica * Description: Large, handsome and sturdy insects, drone beetles have distinctive antennae that end in a club that can be fanned out to form a leafy antenna with a large surface area -- the better to detect odors carried in the air. The beetles are around 4 cm long, with large eyes and a metallic sheen on the exoskeleton ranging from copper to green. There is a triangular section on the abdomen where the wing cases meet, and the head is large, armored and rectangular in shape. The legs are broad and very strong, with hooks on the end enabling them to grip hard to tree trunks. * Where to find them: In deciduous forests and parks in Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. * Food: Drone beetles are fond of liquid diets. They fly to trees that are leaking sap, and feed on the fluid. When flying, the heavy insects hang awkwardly in the air, legs held outward ready to land, and the wing cases held clear of the large hind wings. They make a droning buzz when airborne. Drone beetles also eat flower nectar and the juices made by soft ripe fruit. To find the best source of food, the beetles spread out their leafy antennae to detect the telltale smells of fruit and sap. The large, fat larvae of drone beetles live in soil and rotting logs, and feed on decomposing leaves. * Special features: Drone beetles are a type of scarab beetle, which were revered by the ancient Egyptians. The sacred Egyptian scarabs were dung beetles, and it has even been suggested that their habit of making a "brood ball" of dung in which their larvae live inspired the Egyptians to create the mummifying process. Drone beetles are not as common as they used to be. One of the Chinese characters for kanabun is a form of the character for "mosquito." They don't bite, but perhaps in the past they were as common, and as noisy when flying, as mosquitoes.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jul 26, 2006
Galleyworm
* Japanese name: Baba-yasude * Scientific name: Parafontaria species * Description: Galleyworms are not worms but millipedes: elongated, cylindrical arthropods, with two pairs of legs on each body segment. Millipede means "1,000 legs" but these species have around 20 body segments, so therefore about 40 pairs of legs. Galleyworms are dark brown to black, and 15 to 20 mm long. * Where to find them: Often underground in deciduous woodland and scrub, and under stones and rotting logs. Millipedes are only able to move slowly on their numerous short legs, but they burrow well, moving the body and legs in a powerful wave. They take care about safety, constructing their tunnels to be stable. * Food: Decaying leaves, and other bits of plant detritus. Galleyworms are not generally well-liked in Japan, but unlike some of their cousins the centipedes, they are not poisonous, and perform an essential recycling job -- a job which underpins the health of every deciduous forest on the planet. Still, millipedes eat in a rather unpleasant way, secreting fluid onto their food to moisturize it, then chewing up the plant material with one set of mouthparts, and scraping up the sticky pulp with a second set. * Special features: Millipedes are primitive insects, but have some interesting evolutionary specializations. There is a sensory organ called the Tomosvary organ on the head. It forms a raised ring or a horse-shoe shape located behind the antenna sockets. It is probably used when digging and searching for food, as it can measure the humidity in the environment, and probably some other chemicals too. They also have simple eyes at the side of the head, as well as the two main eyes at the front, and sensory antennae. In the distant past, they used to have just one pair of legs on each body segment, like centipedes do today, but two single segments fused over millions of years, and now each segment carries two pairs of legs. Because they don't move fast, if disturbed they may curl into a protective ball, and even emit noxious hydrogen cyanide through pores on the segments. A millipede species currently holds the record for being the first known land animal. That creature was 1 cm long, and lived in what is now Scotland, some 430 million years ago. It is not known if it fought with its fellow millipedes in the south, in what would eventually become England.
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jul 12, 2006
Jewelwing damselfly
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jun 28, 2006
Eight-barbel loach
* Japanese name: Hotoke-dojo * Scientific name: Lefua echigonia * Description: Loaches are in the family of ray-finned fish. They have a flattened body, and four pairs of sensory organs, known as barbels, around the mouth, like whiskers. Catfish have similar sensory organs, but belong to a different family. Loaches don't have scales. The body is light brown, with darker brown spots. They are small fish; males grow to up to 6 cm, females to 7 cm. * Where to find them: On the beds of rivers in Honshu and Kyushu. They prefer fast-flowing water. Eight-barbel loaches are capable of reproducing rapidly and establishing a good population size, but habitat changes have made them much rarer than in the past. * Food: These loaches are scavengers, which is why they live on the bottom of rivers. The mouth opens downwards, making it easier for the fish to feed on pretty much anything they detect with their barbels -- whether bits of dead plants and animals, insect larvae or other invertebrates such as crustaceans. * Special features: When the water temperature warms to 14 to 16 degrees, the fish are ready to spawn. A male patrols a territorial zone on the bottom of the river, swimming rapidly along the length of his territory, while a female swims up and down near him. After some time doing this, the female suddenly attempts to dive into the floor, propelling herself into the sand or under a stone. This is the signal the male has been waiting for, and he nibbles and pecks at her back and tail. The female then beats her fins harder in her attempt to burrow into the sand, and when she has succeeded, or found cover under a stone, followed closely by the male, she starts trembling and releases her eggs. The male releases his sperm over them. That's it. Both fish swim out of the hole. The next day, they can do it again, and females can lay up to 14 batches of eggs in this way. As might be expected, as the number of batches a female lays goes up, so does the rest time required between each spawning. Bigger females lay bigger eggs, which explains why the females of this species are bigger than the males. Hotoke, incidentally, means "Buddha," and although this fish at first sight doesn't seem particularly enlightened, perhaps its whiskers have earned it the name.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jun 14, 2006
Cattle egret
* Japanese name: Amasagi * Scientific name: Bubulcus ibis * Description: Cattle egrets are in the heron family, but they are shorter and have stouter necks than their relatives. They have a "hunched" posture, even when they stand up straight. They are medium-sized birds, 46-56 cm long, with a wingspan of around 90 cm. The legs are dull orange, and the plumage is usually white, except during the breeding season, when the eyes, bill and legs turn red and the feathers on the head, throat and back turn an eye-catching orange color. * Where to find them: From Honshu to Kyushu and Okinawa. Being wading birds, cattle egrets are found in rice fields and ponds and lakes, but for a heron they are surprisingly well-adapted to terrestrial habitats and can often be seen in urban areas too. Despite the name, they are often, though not always, associated with cattle. Cattle egrets are what biologists call a "cosmopolitan" species -- that's not to say they are sophisticated, just that they live all over the world. Sometimes they nest in large groups in the same tree, where birds will steal nest material when their neighbors aren't watching. It is the national bird of Botswana. * Food: Mostly insects, often grasshoppers that have been disturbed by cattle. Also amphibians, reptiles and young birds, which they stab with their dagger-like bill. In the nest, chicks will squabble with each other quite strongly over food, and the first-born and largest chick usually wins. Very occasionally sibling fights become so serious that one is killed. * Special features: Male and female cattle egrets form interesting relationships. Males establish territories, and perform courtship displays to try and win a female. When a watching female makes her choice, she flies over and lands on his back. Sometimes two females make the same choice, so more courtship ensues until only one remains. The pair will stay together for the season until their chicks have fledged. Then they split up and will find another partner for the next season. After he has bonded with his female, the male takes her to another site, where they will set up a nest together. This is also where mating takes place. In contrast to the elaborate courtship, there is no ceremony before mating. Some biologists have reported seeing egrets making "forced" copulations. The male and female will, nonetheless, continue to respectfully greet each other when returning to the nest from a feeding trip, by raising plumes on the back. Females lay 3-4 eggs.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
May 24, 2006
Schlegel's green tree frog
* Japanese name: Schlegel-aogaeru * Scientific name: Rhacophorus schlegelii * Description: Schlegel's green tree frog is a medium-sized tree frog, which at a few centimeters long still makes it smaller than most other frogs and toads. The back is green, although some frogs have small yellow spots on their backs. The belly is white, and the male has black dots on its throat. It has large yellow eyes and, in this species, the toe pads are rather large. Males grow to between 32-43 mm; females are larger, coming in at 43-53-mm long. * Where to find them: Schlegel's green tree frog can be found in rice fields in Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. It also lives near swamps, and in grassland or woodland where there is water nearby. Given the name, it's no surprise that they are often seen in trees. * Food: Insects mainly, with crickets and grasshoppers preferred, but tree frogs will also take flies and moths, and are partial to earthworms. The frogs are only small, but they are agile and sure-footed, and can swiftly pursue and capture an insect that has landed in a tree. * Special features: Tree frogs are noisy. Males begin calling at the end of March to attract females. Once they have been successful, and have mated, in mid-April to May the females lay their eggs. Unlike frogs that lay a mass of spawn in water, tree frogs deposit their white and foamy egg mass underground. A favored spot is the soil ridge on the edge of a rice field. Tadpoles hatch after about a week, and by the end of June they start to transform into frogs. The frogs are very noisy before rainfall, probably sensing the approach of rain through a change in air pressure. Some people in Japan used to keep a tree frog in a cage or tank as a kind of living barometer. Strangely, Japanese scientists have studied motion sickness in Schlegel's green tree frog, by taking them in a parabolic flight so the frogs experience microgravity. Despite their agility and prowess in tree-climbing, the frogs seem unusually susceptible to motion sickness, which the scientists measured by the rate of vomiting shown by the frogs in microgravity. Their skin has antimicrobial properties.
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