Tag - animal-tracker

 
Menu
Search
 
April 29, 2024
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

ANIMAL TRACKER

Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
May 10, 2006
Blue & white flycatcher
* Japanese name: Ooruri * Scientific name: Cyanoptila cyanomelana * Description: The blue and white flycatcher is a handsome migratory songbird, about 16-cm long, with a vivid, electric-blue cap, back, wings and tail. The breast is white and the face, eyes and bill are brown-black. At least, the males are -- the females, on the other hand, are brown where the male is so vividly blue. The male's plumage is unusual for this very large family of birds in that it has both male-like (blue wings and tail) and female-like (brown head and underparts) aspects. The blue and white flycatcher is one of three songbirds in Japan that are famous for their songs (the others are the Japanese robin and the Japanese bush warbler). Its song is complex, fluid, trilling and energetic. In the breeding season (spring and summer) it emits a peculiar "goo-goo" noise. * Where to find them: A migrant, it can only be seen in Japan in the late spring, summer and early autumn, when it nests and feeds in natural habitats, preferably open woodland with lots of good perch sites. It can also be seen in gardens and parks. The blue and white flycatcher builds a well-constructed, cup-shaped nest in a tree or bush. As autumn draws on, the birds leave Japan, preferring to winter in the warmer climes of Southeast Asia. * Food: As the name suggests, mainly insects, which the bird takes on the wing. It can be seen perching conspicuously, watching for passing insects, which it flies out to catch, and then returns with to the perch. Blue and white flycatchers also eat seeds. * Special features: Males devote much energy to singing, in order to attract females, who also ogle the males' bright colors. Females might not be as interesting as the males to look at, but their physiology more than makes up for it. Their reproductive tract contains multiple tubules, and when they mate they store the sperm from the male in these tubules, nourishing the sperm and keeping them alive. It's a familiar story: males look flashy, but females have more going on beneath the surface.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Apr 26, 2006
Dark sleeper
* Japanese name: Donko * Scientific name: Odontobutis obscura * Description: The enigmatically named Dark sleeper is a perch-like fish in the order Perchiformes. Members of this, the largest order of vertebrates, include 40 percent of all fish. They are typically fat-lipped, grumpy-looking fish and Dark sleepers are no exception. They vary in color, ranging from brown to gray, with black patches, mottles and swatches on the body. Even the same fish, for reasons we shall see, can be patterned differently from one minute to the next. They have bulging eyes, large, fan-shaped fins and grow up to 12-cm long. * Where to find them: An entirely freshwater species, the Dark sleeper can be found in rivers all over Honshu. Young fish live in the shallows, but adults live on the river bed. * Food: Dark sleepers are carnivorous and prey on other small fish, juvenile forms of fish and amphibians. The tadpoles of frogs and toads are a particular favorite; insect larvae are also taken. They do not eat detritus or plant material. * Special features: Obscura is Latin for "dark," but the Dark sleeper can also be obscure, as in difficult to see. That's because it has a remarkable way of controlling how light is reflected from its skin. Under the skin surface are plates that reflect strongly, and cellular spaces, without plates, where light is absorbed. The fish is able to change the proportion of reflecting plates and absorbing spaces in its skin, and so change its appearance. One minute it may be light-colored, the next mottled -- then it may appear blue or very dark. The color changes are controlled by nerves and hormones. The function of the color change is unknown. Likely explanations are that it has a camouflaging effect, allowing the fish to blend in with the rocks and plants at the bottom of the river, and also a sexual selection function. Male fish might alter their coloring when competing with other males for territories, or when trying to impress a potential female mate.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Apr 12, 2006
Peacock butterfly
* Japanese name: Kujaku-cho * Scientific name: Inachis io geisha * Description: Instantly recognizable, with its chocolate-brown body, striking red wings and eye spots, the peacock is in the Nymphalid family of butterflies. In members of this family, the front pair of legs are reduced and useless for walking, while their antennae have clearly visible "clubs" on the end. The subspecies found in Japan, with a wingspan of 54-60 mm, is named "geisha" for its beautiful cosmetic coloring . The caterpillars are black with white dots on each segment and six rows of barbed, protective spikes. * Where to find them: The peacock is fairly common in open fields, on farms and in woods and gardens. It is found from sea level up to about 2,500 meters; indeed, wherever flowers grow. Only one brood of eggs is laid each year, and the adults hibernate over winter. They are one of the first butterflies to appear each year, around March to April. * Food: Females lay their eggs on nettles in batches of about 500; caterpillars hatch about a week later and eat the host nettle they hatch on. Adults take nectar from thistles, buddleia and dandelions, but also feed on tree sap and drink from rotten fruit. * Special features: The insect is named, in English and Japanese, after the bird which also has beautiful eyespots. But while the bird's eyespots are a result of sexual selection (females are drab, and choose males with the prettiest, most symmetrical, brightest eyespots in their tail feathers), in peacock butterflies the eye spots perform a function that is favored by natural selection: protection from predators. Male and female peacock butterflies have the same eyespot patterns, although the females' tend to be slightly larger than the males'. At first glance, the eyes look very feline, and birds will of course hesitate to attack something that reminds them of a cat. Nevertheless, peacock butterflies are flighty insects, and if you see the mottled tortoiseshell on the underwing of the animal, you can be sure that it is about to take to the air.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Mar 22, 2006
Black-spotted frog
* Japanese name: Tonosama-gaeru * Scientific name: Rana nigromaculata * Description: Males of this handsome frog grow to about 70-mm long, while females are slightly larger at 77 mm. They vary in color, from lime green to gray-brown, but they all have a pattern of black spots down the flanks of their body. * Where to find them:In and around rice fields and streams in non-mountainous parts of Honshu and Kyushu. The frogs were introduced into Hokkaido and can also be found there. When adult, frogs are mainly terrestrial, returning to the water to mate and lay their eggs, and occasionally to feed. The eggs they lay are more "primitive" than those of reptiles, in that they lack a hard shell. This means that the eggs rely on the moisture of the surrounding water -- if the water dries up, so do the eggs, so it is important for the females to lay them in a reliably wet place. The tadpoles, of course, are completely aquatic, developing legs as they grow, gradually losing their tail and finally emerging onto land. The tadpoles also lose their internal gills that allow them to breathe underwater, and develop lungs. * Food:These frogs are opportunist hunters, and eat whatever prey they come across, meaning that their diet changes with the seasons. They also take larger animals as they themselves grow, but generally they are not fussy eaters. They have a sticky tongue which helps them keep hold of struggling prey such as crickets and grasshoppers. * Special features: The skin has anti-microbial properties. It contains several peptides (molecules made from amino acids) that give it a broad spectrum of protection against different sorts of potential attack. Thus bacteria, yeast and other microorganisms that settle on the frog can't grow and cause the animal health problems. The peptides work by busting open the cell membranes of the attacking microorganism, killing the cell. Interestingly, meanwhile, a frog discovered recently that lives by a noisy stream in China has been found to communicate ultrasonically. All frogs croak, but the deep croak noise doesn't transmit clearly over the noise of rushing water. The Chinese frogs -- and perhaps others that live in noisy water environments -- solve the problem by emitting ultrasonic squeaks, like dolphins and bats, to communicate with other frogs.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Mar 8, 2006
Japanese huchen
* Japanese name: Itou * Scientific name: Hucho perryi * Description: A huge fish, a member of the salmon family, the Japanese huchen grows up to 1 meter long. Also known as the Sakhalin taimen, it is Japan's largest freshwater fish. Its size alone is distinctive enough (folk stories tell of huchens almost 2 meters long), but its powerful bulging jaw is another identifying feature. The huchen weighs 25-30 kg, has silver-gray skin and black spots, and when breeding acquires a red tinge. * Where to find them:If you are lucky, in rivers in northern and eastern Hokkaido. Huchen used to also live in northern Honshu, but now are only found in Hokkaido, and even there are rare. They feed in the sea during the winter, and move into the rivers in the spring and summer to breed. * Food:Young huchen feed mainly on aquatic insects. Older fish, larger than 30 cm, hunt and eat other fish. The really big ones may also eat mice, frogs and even snakes. * Special features:As the snow melts in spring, sexually mature huchen move upstream. Males become mature at 6 or 7 years old, when they are about 45 cm long; females at age 8 , when they are 55 cm long. Unlike common salmon, huchen don't die once they've reproduced, and can survive for 15 to 20 years. This extraordinary lifespan is the reason they can get so big. For reproduction, females dig a rudimentary nest in the sand or gravel of the river bed, called a "redd." After she lays her eggs -- some 2,000-10,000 of them -- they are immediately fertilised by an accompanying male. The female then covers the eggs with gravel or sand. But despite the vast number of eggs, today there are few adults surviving. The hutchen is not only Japan's largest fish, it is one of the rarest, and its most venerable. It is thought that huchen have swum here for at least 2 million years. Biologists are now studying how much genetic diversity is left in the relatively few individuals that remain, and thus how much hope there is for the future survival of the species.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Feb 22, 2006
Signal crayfish
* Japanese name: Uchida zarigani * Scientific name: Pacifastacus leniusculus * Description: Crayfish look like small lobsters. Despite their name, they are not fish, but freshwater crustaceans. They have a segmented body, up to 20-cm long, with 10 legs and a hard exoskeleton that they must molt as they grow. The "tail" part of the abdomen is flat but strongly muscled, and this is where most of the edible flesh comes from. The shell is a dark brown color. The front two legs bear huge pincers. The eyes are large and the head carries two long sensory antennae. * Where to find them: In cool waters, in rivers and lakes from Honshu to Okinawa. But the Signal crayfish found in Japan is not indigenous to the country: It was introduced from the western United States (where they are also known as crawfish) for cultivation as a food source. * Food: Small fish and other crustaceans. They will also scavenge dead animal and plant material from the river bed. * Special features: If you see a crayfish in the wild, don't feel too bad about catching and eating it. The Signal crayfish carries "crayfish plague," which is caused by a fungus and has wiped out native crayfish in many countries where is has been introduced, especially Britain and Japan.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Feb 8, 2006
Mud shrimp
* Japanese name: Ana-jako * Scientific name: Upogebia major * Description: Mud shrimps are 10-cm-long decapod crustaceans, which means they have 10 legs and a hard outer shell. They also have two pairs of antennae, of which one pair is very long. The animal is whitish in color, with large dark-brown patches on the back and antennae. The body is quite flat. The front legs are much larger than the others. * Where to find them: Mud shrimps are hard to find because they spend a lot of their time deep in their holes in mud. However, if you look closely in muddy sediment on the coasts of Japan, on parts of the shore that are periodically drained by the retreating tide, you might see a mud shrimp's hole, with its long antennae peeping out. They are among the deepest-burrowing animals on the coast. The bigger the shrimp, the deeper the burrow. * Food: Mud shrimps eat organic matter in the mud that washes about on the shallow sea floor where they live. The sediment contains lots of bits of plants and animals, but also, these days, lots of nasty chemicals. The shrimps eat everything up, and in polluted areas they pay the price. Pollutants affect various aspects of shrimp life including reproduction, embryonic development and larval growth. Males can also develop female characteristics as a result of pollution. * Special features: Females start laying their eggs in their holes from December, and continue until May. Eggs start hatching in March, and when they do so, the depth of the burrow makes all the difference to their chances of survival. Predators have difficulty reaching down into deep holes, and extremes of temperature and pressure caused by tidal changes have less effect. Larvae grow rapidly, but take a long time to mature compared with other shrimp species. In other words, mud shrimps invest more energy in growing big and strong than they do in sexually maturing as quickly as possible. Hence survival as an adult is more important to them than reproducing quickly. If they build a nice deep burrow, shrimps may live for several years after maturation.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jan 25, 2006
Great egret
* Japanese name: Daisagi * Scientific name: Egretta alba * Description: The great egret is the largest of the egrets in Japan. It is 80-100 cm tall, with a wingspan of 140-170 cm. The plumage is pure white; the legs, feet and bill are black. In flight, great egrets are languid, with slow and deep wingbeats, the neck hanging low. When they take off, great egrets often let out a crow-like call. Males and females look alike. They live up to 20 years. * Where to find them: In freshwater wetlands and paddy fields from Honshu to Kyushu. Also in saltwater marshes. Great egrets nest in trees or reedbeds, constructing a platform of sticks. The nest is lined with grass to protect the eggs and provide some comfort for the chicks. * Food: Mostly fish. Great egrets stalk in water with their neck coiled like a spring. The head is often tilted to reduce the glare off the surface of the water. When they spot a fish, they quickly straighten their necks to snatch their prey. The bird might also kick up the water and sediment to scare fish into sight. Their feet are not webbed, but the toes are long, so the bird's weight is well distributed and it doesn't sink into the mud. Egrets will also happily eat frogs and large insects and invertebrates, such as crayfish, and even snakes. They are boisterous birds, and if they can steal food from another egret, they will. * Special features: Males and females establish small feeding territories which they defend from other egrets. In the breeding season, both sexes develop a cloak of feathers over their backs. Courtship displays include raising the long breeding plumes, raising their wings and arching their necks. Touchingly, male-female pairs may last for life. Females lay 1-6 pale bluish-green eggs, and both parents take turns to incubate the eggs and then feed the chicks. Unfortunately, life is not so sweet among the chicks and they often fight among themselves for food, and will even kill each other. The chick that hatches first (the largest) usually prevails. Fledging, for those that aren't killed by their siblings or by predators, takes place after six weeks.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jan 11, 2006
Smoky brown cockroach
* Japanese name: Kuro-gokiburi * Scientific name: Periplaneta * Description: The smoky brown is similar to the more common American cockroach, but at 3-3.5 cm long it is slightly smaller. It is a rich mahogany brown color, and the thorax is dark and shiny, which distinguishes it from the lighter thorax of the American cockroach. Females are slightly larger than males. * Where to find them: The smoky brown likes warm, humid conditions, and so it is found over most of Honshu, Kyushu and Okinawa, as well as in the southern United States. It tends to base itself in warm spots outdoors, and from there invades buildings and houses. It needs access to liquid water every 2-3 days, as it loses moisture through its outer layer of skin. In Japan, this means that the smoky brown is not as common in houses as other types of cockroach, because many houses have air conditioning, which keeps humidity levels down. * Food: Cockroaches are scavengers, eating rotting vegetation in forests, food scraps in kitchens and drains, as well as cat and dog food. They will also eat the feces of other animals. This habit, combined with their secretions of saliva, give them that uniquely unpleasant cockroach smell. * Special features: I don't expect to change people's minds about one of the most maligned animals on the planet. But: They fly well (better than the American cockroach), they are hardy insects able to survive pretty much anywhere and on anything, and they've been around, in a form not much different from today's, for at least 350 million years. However, their association with dirty and unsanitary conditions does have health consequences. A study on Japanese asthma patients shows that many of them have antibodies to cockroaches -- that is, their immune system has been stimulated to attack cockroach emanations. Once smoky brown cockroaches find a suitable site, they can quickly infest it. Females produce and carry around a capsule containing about 20 eggs. The capsules hatch after an average of 45 days and females mature in about 300 days. Each female can make around seven capsules. The best way to keep numbers of smoky brown cockroaches low is to make sure they don't have places to hide outside, near your house.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Dec 28, 2005
Ichimonji bitterling
* Japanese name: Ichimonji-tanago * Scientific name: Acheilognathus cyanostigma * Description: The bitterling is a small fish, growing to around 70 mm in length. Adults are fairly deep-bodied, with a similar body shape to goldfish. In the breeding season, males become much more brightly colored than females, with broad beautiful iridescent blue and violet stripes on their flanks. Females are a relatively plain silver-gray. The bitterling is in the family of fish called the Cyprinidae, from the Greek word for goldfish. Minnows and carps are also members of this family. * Where to find them: In ponds, ditches and other lowland bodies of water. Also in Japan's largest body of fresh water, Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture, and in some rivers. Bitterlings are hardy fish, and can survive cold water temperatures. Below 10 degrees they enter a sluggish "winter state" of reduced metabolism. However, although they are hardy, they are not invulnerable. Water quality in rivers and lakes in Japan is declining as chemicals used in farming and industry run off into the water, as well as waste products from animals. The environmental degradation means that bitterling numbers have fallen, and the fish is now on the official "Red Data" list of endangered species. * Food: Bitterlings eat water fleas and planktonic crustaceans. They graze on water plants, removing microscopic animals such as rotifers and small insect larvae. Incidentally, bitterlings themselves do not make very good eating. Their bitter taste is probably a defense against predatory fish such as pike. * Special features: Females have a remarkable way of ensuring that their eggs develop safely. As can be seen in the picture of the female fish in the background above, they grow a long egg-depositing tube that extends from their genital opening. This tube allows the female to precisely control where she lays her eggs -- which she does directly into the gill chamber of a freshwater mussel. Her mate then releases his sperm over the mussel, which draws it in with the water it takes in to its gills. Once inside, the sperm can fertilize the female's eggs. This way, males don't have to go to the trouble of building a nest and defending it, and can just move on to the next female. Females, meanwhile, can lay nice fat eggs, which will develop safely for 2-3 weeks inside the mussel. The young fish then remain inside their host for a couple of days after hatching and then leave. The mussel is apparently unaffected by the invasion of privacy.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Dec 14, 2005
Common Buzzard
* Japanese name: Nosuri * Scientific name: Buteo buteo * Description: Buzzards are fairly common raptors in Japan, where they are among the larger of the birds of prey, typically growing to between 51-57 cm in length with a 110-130-cm wingspan. They are chunky birds with broad, blunt-ended wings and short, broad tails. When seen perching (often on telephone poles and electricity pylons), their robust shape and short head will help identify them. When seen soaring, the rounded wings and the broad tail (without a pronounced "V"-shape) helps to distinguish buzzards from kites. Also, the wings are swept upward and forward when soaring. They are dull brown with paler sections in the primary feathers. Buzzards have a loud mewing call that sounds like "pee-uuu." * Where to find them: Common buzzards live all over Japan except in Hokkaido, where it's too cold. They can be seen in valleys, forests and farms. The two subspecies in Japan are both on the Red Data list of endangered species. One, the oshiroi subspecies, is critically endangered; the other, the toyoshimai subspecies, is listed as endangered. It's worth noting that in North America, the word "buzzard" is used to refer to vultures. * Food: Small mammals such as rabbits, as well as other birds and carrion. * Special features: Buzzards are socially monogamous, which means that males defend a territory and help raise chicks with a mate. But that's not to say they don't stray away from home if the chance arises. The male's loud call is a signal to other males of his territory. Males court females by flying together in broad circles while calling, and also by diving toward the female. They also perform dramatic "sky dances" by flying high and then diving steeply, followed by a rapid ascending spiral flight. These courtship flights usually occur in spring, in late morning and early afternoon. Loss of habitat and food shortages are the main reasons that buzzards have declined in number in Japan. Recent research has shown that they suffer from competition too, both from other buzzards, and from other birds, such as crows.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Nov 23, 2005
Rice fish
* Japanese name: Medaka * Scientific name: Oryzias latipes * Description: This ordinary-looking little creature is one of the most important fish in biological research. Growing just 5-8 cm long, in the wild it is pale brown dorsally and silver underneath and on the flanks. The dorsal fin has 5-6 rays; the lower anal fin has 18-20 rays. There is another small fin on the lower side of the fish, used for delicate maneuvering, which also has 5-6 rays. The eye is large and black with a distinctive silver outer ring. There are some colored varieties bred for ornamental purposes, and even a fluorescent variety bred by introducing a gene from a jellyfish into the medaka genome to produce a fluorescent protein. * Where to find them: Slow-moving streams and ponds, and even in stagnant water, from Honshu south to Kyushu. Medaka can survive in stagnant conditions because they do not need much oxygen. They are also commonly found in research labs and aquaria. * Food: Zooplankton and larger animals such as water fleas. They will also eat aquatic worms and vegetable matter. Medaka have to be dull-looking in the wild as river birds and dragonfly larvae are major predators. * Special features: Rice fish are resilient creatures that have a short life cycle and reproduce easily, which makes them popular aquarium and lab animals. This was the first fish found to conform to Mendel's laws of inheritance, which had already been deduced in pea plants. And it was also the first fish in which hormones were shown to induce sex change from both male to female and female to male. It is even used in cancer research. When mating, males swim quickly around the female to court her; if she is receptive, the male clasps the female with his fins, which are bigger than hers. The male bends his head toward the female, encouragingly, it appears, and both animals shudder. Eggs and sperm are then released into the water. But the eggs stay attached to the female for a time, in a cluster attached to fine threads coming from her body. Eventually the cluster of eggs falls into vegetation below. Sometimes it seems that females lack the patience to sit and wait and watch a male's courtship display. Instead, if a nearby female has mated with a male, she will copy that other female's choice, and mate with him.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Nov 9, 2005
Mystery snail Tanishi
* Japanese name: Tanishi * Scientific name: Cipangopaludina japonica * Description: A large snail, growing up to 60 mm long. It has two large "horns"; shell color is uniform, light to dark olive-green, but may have color bands. As in the photo, they are often muddy, and they are also known as mud snails. * Where to find them: In quiet lakes and ponds and in slow-moving streams all over Japan. They are also found where they aren't wanted: in Canada's Great Lakes and all over the United States. How did they get there? They was introduced by immigrants who brought them over as a food source. * Food: The snails have a strong, rasping tongue (the radula), which they use to scrape algae from the surface of large rooted plants. They do not, however, eat the larger plants themselves and avoid areas where they live, such as rice paddies. Mystery snails also consume large amounts of bacteria, lots of rotting vegetation and even sewage sludge from wastewater treatment works. This has led some people to suggest that mystery snails be deployed at sewage outlets, to help clean up the sludge. Because the snails eat almost anything, they have out-competed the native snails in Canada and the U.S.; they also out-compete clams and mussels. They are themselves parasitized by organisms that cause human disease, such as intestinal flukes. Another method of feeding they use is the mucus string. The snail drags a line of sticky mucus behind it, which picks up bits of food. From time to time, the snail will turn its head and consume the food-laden mucus. * Special features: Mystery snails belong to a family called Viviparidae, a name that refers to the fact that they give birth to live young. This is unique among gastropods: all other snails lay eggs that later hatch, but in the mystery snail, the eggs hatch while still inside the female. The juvenile snails stay within the mother's shell until they are large enough to try their luck on their own. As autumn comes to an end and temperatures fall, the snails migrate into deeper waters and go into a kind of semi-hibernation until spring. They have a "trap door" -- a hard disc of muscle on the bottom of the foot, which they use to shut themselves into their shell if danger threatens.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Oct 26, 2005
Bagrid catfish
* Japanese name: Nekogigi * Scientific name: Pseudobagrus ichikawai * Description: Catfish have whiskers, making them easily recognizable. Of course, the whiskers are not made of hair, but they have the same function as a cat's whiskers: They are sensory organs, more correctly called barbels. The bagrid catfish is about 11 cm long, with three pairs of ventral fins, two dorsal fins and a deeply forked tail. They live for about four years. The body is a delicately colored peach-plum and gold, and another feature that distinguishes catfish from most other types of fish is that they don't have scales. * Where to find them: Bagrid catfish are threatened with extinction and now can only be found in the rivers flowing into Ise and Mikawa bays. They live among rocks at the bottom of those rivers, making it difficult to spot them, and, to make things worse, the fish is most active at night. The bagrid is designated in Japan as a national treasure. Let's hope that status -- acquired in 1977 -- will help prevent its extinction. However, river "improvement" works, such as concrete banks and dams, don't help matters. * Food: Larger plankton and insect larvae, small fish and tadpoles, and crustaceans are the bagrid's main meal, but in a pinch they will eat detritus from the bottom of the river. The fish uses its sensitive barbels to detect food and the movement of animal prey in the dark. * Special features: The dorsal fin has a hollow spine through which a toxic protein can be delivered. If anything attacks this catfish -- if the predator can see in the dark -- it will soon be repelled by the sting. So it's not predation that threatens the bagrid, it's environmental degradation. Courtship and mating takes place in late spring. The males find a suitable nest site, protected by stones, and patrol it. Females lay eggs, and for a week or so, males guard the nest containing the fry. Catfish have attracted a couple of unlikely legends: They are supposed to behave erratically in the hours before an earthquake, and earthquakes have been themselves blamed on a giant catfish said to live inside the Earth.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Oct 12, 2005
Striped diving beetle
* Japanese name: Shima-gengorou * Scientific name: Hydaticus bowringii * Description: This beetle is small, some 15 mm long, but sturdy. Its elytra (wing cases) are black, with an almost lacquered quality. What makes this species unmistakable are the two golden stripes running down the length of each elytron. There is also a golden spot on each elytron, just where the abdomen joins the thorax. The beetles have long, threadlike antennae. They swim in a highly distinctive style, kicking the back legs simultaneously, like a frog. The legs are fringed with bristles that increase the area of the leg on the downstroke, making it more paddle-like and giving more drive. The elytra are grooved in males and smooth in females. * Where to find them: Lakes and ponds from Honshu to Kyushu, in spring. In winter, they hibernate in the mud at the bottom of them. They are most easily found in stagnant, murky ponds. * Food: Diving beetles are known as the cleaners of the pond, as they will eat the corpses of dead animals that have sunk to the bottom. They also hunt for dragonfly nymphs and do us a favor by eating the larvae of mosquitoes. They also eat crustaceans and tadpoles. The larvae are also carnivorous and have long crescent-shaped, sharp mouth parts, which they use to stab prey items. These mandibles are hollow, and the larvae use them to suck up the body fluids of their victims. * Special features: Diving beetles use an aqua lung. Sealed between the elytra and the abdomen is a bubble of air, which supplies the beetle's oxygen. In stagnant ponds this is often a problem -- ponds become stagnant when there is not much oxygen dissolved in the water. Diving beetles don't need to worry about this as they carry their own air supply. When they break the surface of the water they replenish their "tank." The female lays white eggs on water weeds. The eggs hatch quickly, in about a week, and there are only three stages, or instars, of larval development. After 21 days, a new adult will be ready. This means there can be three or four generations in a year. If a larva doesn't complete development before the weather becomes cold, it can simply hibernate in the mud like the adults.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Sep 21, 2005
Ayu sweetfish
* Japanese name: Ayu * Scientific name: Plecoglossus altivelis altivelis * Description: Ayu are as Japanese as cherry blossom. Small fish in the salmon family, they grow to about 20 cm long, sometimes reaching 30 cm. Ayu are celebrated as being, when skewered and grilled over a fire, one of the tastiest of all river fish. Just the word "ayu" will evoke wistful thoughts of summer in many Japanese. * Where to find them: In fast-flowing rivers from western Hokkaido south through Kyushu. Ayu, the most important species in Japanese freshwater fisheries, can be credited with stimulating a growing environmental awareness in Japan, as -- to the chagrin of many -- suitable habitats for them have been disappearing as a result of rampant dam-building across the country. * Food: Most fish in the salmon family are strictly carnivorous, but ayu feed mainly on water weeds. The fish scrape the algae from rocks, and teeth marks can be seen on rocks where ayu have eaten. Juvenile fish also take aquatic insects. * Special features: Ayu are highly territorial when it comes to their feeding grounds. Each fish defends a fairly large area of 10 to 20 sq. meters, and will attack any fish entering the territory. It is this predictable defensive behavior that anglers all over Japan exploit in order to catch ayu. A live ayu is introduced on a hook into another fish's territory. When the territorial fish attacks the intruder, it too is caught. In March, adults swim down river to spawn. Larvae enter the ocean and feed on plankton there over the winter, returning to rivers in the spring. Some fish survive to spawn for two or three years in succession; others manage to do it only once. Scientists have succeeded in making transgenic ayu, that is, ayu that carry a gene from another species. Ayu DNA was supplemented with a gene from a rainbow trout. The gene produces a growth hormone, and as a result the transgenic ayu grows to be twice as heavy and 1.3 times as long as normal ayu. The survival rate of the transgenic animals is, however, not as high as for normal fish. The scientific paper reporting this did not give details about how delicious the transgenic fish were.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Sep 8, 2005
Eight-map butterfly
* Japanese name: Sakahachichou * Scientific name: Araschnia burejana strigosa * Description: These are feisty butterflies, with a wingspan of about 5 cm and sharp, erratic flight. In terms of coloration, red, orange and brown usually predominate. The forelegs are merely "brushes," and are not used for walking. The Japanese name, sakahachi, refers to the Chinese character for 8. * Where to find them: In parks and meadows near broad-leaved and mixed forests; also in mountainous, forested areas from Honshu to Kyushu. This butterfly looks different according to when in the year you see it. There are two seasonal emergences, in middle May/middle June and middle July/late August. In the spring, the wings are darker on the dorsal (upper) side, sometimes black and orange. In the summer brood, the upper wings are light brown, with white markings and little orange. In the mountains, where it's colder and development takes longer, there is only a single brood, flying in June/July. * Food: Leaves for the larval stage, nectar for the butterflies. The caterpillars' staple food is the stinging neetle and other plants in the same family. * Special features: Females lay 4-20 green, ribbed, almost spherical eggs in a grid. The larvae have two strategies to try to survive until the pupal stage. First, they live in groups for most of their larval life: safety in numbers. At the final molt as caterpillars, they become independent and strike out on their own. They develop paired horns on the head and on each segment, to discourage predation. And they have a gland in a fold on the underside of the first segment which exudes a repellent scent if they are disturbed. Caterpillars in the later, summer brood were laid by butterflies themselves hatched from the first brood earlier in the year. Those second brooders hibernate over winter. They hang from silk ropes, head downward. The eggs differ according to which brood they are in. Those laid in spring are fast-maturing, because they have to hatch and develop through the larval stages, then pupate and turn into butterflies -- all in a couple of months. Those laid in the second brood can take their time. In subtropical areas, it may be warm enough to squeeze in a third brood. There is data that show that females prefer to lay their eggs on plants on which the caterpillars grow well. Amazingly, females become fussier when laying the summer brood, when they show an even stronger preference to deposit their eggs on "good" food plants than spring females.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Aug 25, 2005
River grasshopper
* Japanese name: Kawarabatta * Scientific name: Eusphingonotus japonicus * Description: This is a grasshopper with a mottled, stone-gray or brown body that is very difficult to spot. Males are between 25-30 mm long, females between 40-43 mm. The large hind legs (femurs) have a herring-bone pattern, and the antennae are short. Like all grasshoppers, its ears are located on the first segment of the abdomen. As well as being bigger, females have two pairs of triangular-shaped valves at the end of the abdomen that are used to dig holes in sand when they lay eggs. * Where to find them: In August and September, in dry riverbeds from Honshu to Kyushu. The river grasshopper is threatened in some areas because of the destruction and fragmentation of riverbanks. The concrete protection work common along many rivers in Japan may damage grasshopper populations. Eggs remain in the earth over winter and hatch and grow in the spring. * Food: Plants. Grasshoppers have mouthparts adapted for biting and chewing, and the river grasshopper eats a variety of plants. Frass (droppings) from the grasshopper returns nutrients to the soil. Birds will eat the river grasshopper -- if they can spot them. * Special features: If startled or attacked, the grasshopper will launch itself into the air with its legs. But it can also fly; the forewings are narrow and hard and act as protection for the large membranous hindwings, which are also strikingly pigmented with the herring-bone pattern. Males don't have a penis and instead transfer sperm to the female in a package. But some female grasshoppers lay unfertilized eggs, which nevertheless develop and hatch. Baby grasshoppers that develop this way are natural clones of the female. The females can therefore avoid the unwanted attention of males altogether, or if males are in short supply they can still produce offspring. Grasshoppers grow by molting, before which they do not eat and become less active. When they want to molt, the insects swallow air and literally blow themselves up, splitting the old cuticle.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Aug 11, 2005
Little grebe
* Japanese name: Kaitsuburi * Scientific name: Tachybaptus ruficollis * Description: Little grebes, also known as dabchicks, are quite small and rather dumpy birds with blunt rear ends. They are dark brown, with a chestnut-brown throat and face. This chestnut color becomes richer and more shiny during the breeding season. The flanks of the bird are pale brown; the feathers are waterproof. There is a distinctive yellow patch at the base of the sturdy, wedge-shape bill, and the bird has a beady yellow eye with a small black pupil. Adults are some 25 cm long. Chicks are covered in fluffy gray down and have striped heads and necks, like the young of all grebes. Little grebes are common waterfowl and are likely to be found on any lake or decent-sized pond, including in parks in big cities such as Tokyo. They prefer lakes with lots of vegetation. They can be found in lowland areas from Honshu to Kyushu. Chicks are carried around on the backs of their parents. * Food: Mainly fish. Because the Little grebe is little, it can live quite happily on ponds and lakes too small to support large fish. Other grebes, such as the Great-crested grebe, need larger lakes with larger fish. Young grebes are fed by their parents until they are big enough to dive for themselves. They eat small fish, crustaceans such as shrimp, crayfish and crabs, as well as mollusks. The delicate little chicks are also fed feathers by their parents. This provides a soft protective lining to the stomach to prevent damage from fish bones and crab shells, and helps the birds form a pellet when they cough up undigested bones. * Special features: You are unlikely to see a Little grebe on land, unless it's on a nest. That's because their legs are positioned very far back on the body, the better to swim underwater with. On land they walk upright, awkwardly like penguins, and they have narrow wings and seldom fly. If danger threatens, they dive; they can also remain submerged with only the head above water. The lobed feet kick and power the animal like the propeller blades of a hydrofoil. Dives last up to 30 seconds.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jul 28, 2005
Oriental long-headed locust
* Japanese name: Shouryou-batta * Scientific name: Acrida cinerea antennata * Description: Although it is called the long-headed locust, this member of the grasshopper family of insects has a stranger appearance than the more familiar swarming locust. "Shouryou" refers (bafflingly) to the Buddhist word for the spirit of the dead, while "batta" means grasshopper. It has hugely long hind legs, and the body is 4-5 cm long in males, 7-8 cm long in females. The head is very long, sharp and triangular, tipped with two long antennae. This grasshopper comes in two color types, green and brown, but the head shape never leaves any doubt in identifying the species. * Where to find them: In grass, all over Japan, in summer and autumn. Long-headed locusts are often found in vacant lots around houses, but they are even more commonly heard. The insect rubs the inner surface of its hind legs against the outer surface of the forewings, making a "chiki-chiki" sound that accounts for its other name of chiki-chiki batta. * Food: Vegetation, particularly rice. Locusts are a major crop pest worldwide, and swarms can cause serious damage. Fortunately for rice farmers, the long-headed locust doesn't swarm. It does, however, eat the leaves of rice plants. * Special features: Females are bigger than males because they lay a large mass of eggs, surrounded in a foamy, protective substance. Eggs take more energy to produce than sperm, so females are bigger. In both sexes, the stilt-like hind legs are specialized to store energy like a coiled spring. This energy can be almost instantaneously unleashed if the insect is startled, and the sudden kick propels the animal away. Grasshoppers grow by molting, and just before and after the final molt to adulthood, the exoskeleton is soft and weak. This means that kicks cannot be performed with the same power, lest they damage the exoskeleton. Instead, the insect kicks by conventional muscle contraction, rather than releasing stored energy. After about two weeks the body is strong enough not to be damaged by kicking; the locust modifies its kicking behavior until its body is strong enough to cope.
Number of homeless in Japan hits record low
Homeless people sleep on the street in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward in August 2021.
Raising kids in Japan as a single parent? It takes a village.
Making things work as a foreign, single mother in Japan isn't easy, but these tips and tricks can help you through the hardest parts.
JAL cancels international flight after captain gets drunk at Dallas hotel
A Japan Airlines' flight from Dallas to Tokyo was canceled last week after its captain got drunk at a local hotel.
In Japan, regional revitalization fails to halt population decline
Sakiyama elementary school in Tamba, Hyogo Prefecture, in March .Over the past decade, the government has directed efforts toward policies designed to give young people incentives to base themselves in rural areas.
Putin’s war will soon reach Russians’ tax bills
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting in St. Petersburg on Friday.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.
Casa del Cibo: A thriving jewel born from Tohoku’s harsh past
When chef Ryohei Ikemi moved to Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, and opened Casa del Cibo in 2011, it was the first proper Italian restaurant in the city.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.

Podcast

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.
[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Longform

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.
Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass
Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER