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April 29, 2024
 

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ANIMAL TRACKER

Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Aug 26, 2004
Brown-lined puffer
* Japanese name: Kitamakura * Scientific name: Canthigaster rivulata * Description: Puffer fish have plump bodies and thick, smooth skin interrupted by large bulging eyes. In many parts of Japan, puffer fish are called fugu, which is written using Chinese characters that mean "river pig." In western Japan, they are called fuku, meaning "to blow."
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Aug 12, 2004
Black-eared kite Tobi
* Japanese name: Tobi * Scientific name:Milvus lineatus * Description: Kites are large raptors, birds of prey with a noticeably forked tail. The black-eared kite has dark brown plumage (darker than the plumage of its close relative, the red kite), and black feathers over its ears. They have large wings and spend much of the time soaring and circling in the sky. Viewed from beneath, kites have a light-colored band of feathers just before their dark wingtips. The end feathers often splay into "fingers" when they're flying. Black-eared kites have relatively weak legs. They are vocal birds, and their distinctive call sounds much like a horse neighing. Males grow up to 58 cm long; females 68 cm. * Where to find them: Kites can be seen around towns and villages, as well as rivers and coasts. They nest in trees in forests, and often close to other kites. In winter, many kites will roost together. * Food: Kites are opportunists. In other words, they eat pretty much anything they come across, even catching insects in flight. They will also hunt and kill small mammals, such as mice; reptiles, such as lizards; and other birds, including young chickens on farms. Sometimes they also eat fish. But much of their diet is made up of carrion. Kites scavenge near human settlements and rubbish tips. * Special features: The kite is the bird whose English name was given to the aerial toy invented in ancient China. Like those made from paper and flown by humans, black-eared kites can be remarkably aerobatic. On a beach on the Izu Peninsula, I once saw a kite fly upside-down to snatch a fish's head from the claws of a scavenging crow. Despite their flying skill, however, black-eared kites are a vulnerable species, and are listed in the Red Data Book.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jul 22, 2004
Carrion crow
* Japanese name: Hashibosogarasu * Scientific name: Corvus corone * Description: Crows are large birds, growing up to 50 cm long with a wingspan of 104 cm. They have entirely black plumage and black eyes. Two species are common in Japan, the carrion crow and the jungle crow, and it's difficult to tell them apart. One way is to watch them when they are calling. The jungle crow has a clearer call than the harsh "kaarr" of the carrion crow, and the jungle crow bows its head and bobs its tail when doing so. Carrion crows just bob their heads. * Where to find them: Across a wide range of habitats -- wherever there are trees, cliffs or buildings to nest on. Nests are built with whatever is available, from sticks and wires to garbage. Crows are found year round, almost everywhere, from the center of Tokyo's Shibuya to the seashore and the mountainside. Birds in city centers or in altitudes above 1,000 meters are likely to be jungle crows. Those in rural areas are likely to be carrion crows. * Food: Crows are omnivorous, eating carrion, insects, worms, seeds, fruit, other birds and their eggs, and, notoriously, garbage. In Tokyo, crows tear open garbage bags in the early morning, spreading garbage. The extra food they get only helps them to breed more successfully, making the crow problem worse. Worryingly, a crow caught in Osaka Prefecture was found to have the virulent bird flu virus. * Special features: Intelligence. Although widely despised by many people (from poultry farmers who fear the spread of bird flu to city folk who are afraid of being attacked), crows are among the most intelligent of all birds. They have even been seen waiting for traffic lights to change at pedestrian crossings in Tokyo. When it is safe to walk, the crows place walnuts on the road, and let cars crush the shells. Fearless of hawks (who they will mob) and humans (who they may attack), crows have highly flexible behaviors, one of the hallmarks of intelligence. For example, they watch where other birds are building their nests so they can steal their eggs later, and can even fashion tools out of sticks and pieces of wire. They live up to 19 years.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jul 8, 2004
Little egret
* Japanese name: Kosagi * Scientific name: Egretta garzetta * Description: The Little Egret is a bird related to the heron, with snow-white plumage, a long, pointed black bill and black legs with bright yellow feet. Its body is 50-60 cm long. In the breeding season in summer, the feet turn bright red, and males develop breeding plumes: two long feathers at the nape of the neck and a few lacy ones on the back and rump. Yearling birds have greenish bills, with black marks and pale-green face markings; their legs are dull black. They are not very vocal, at the most managing a croak when they are on their nests. * Where to find them: Ponds, marshlands, rivers and lakes, but especially rice paddies, all over Japan. Little egrets build simple nests with pieces of bamboo and twigs. Typical nest sites are in waterside bushes and trees, but rocks and walls may also be used; they sometimes they even nest on the ground. Little egrets are migratory and found from Europe to East Asia. * Food: Little egrets are not fussy and eat a variety of animals, including fish, frogs, mollusks, worms and insects. If they get the chance they will even eat small mammals and birds. * Special features: Unlike herons (their relatives), little egrets don't just stand around waiting for food to come to them -- they actively hunt out their prey. In shallow waters they may carefully stalk their prey, or they might stand on one leg and stir the mud with the other to disturb it. They also sometimes lure curious prey into range by waving a bright yellow foot over the surface of the water. Sometimes they raise their wings over the water to create shade, perhaps to reduce the glare or to provide a false hiding place. Little egrets may be seen hunting in groups, but show aggressive territorial behavior in their hunting patch. Both parents help raise the young. In some countries, the beautiful breeding plumes of the little egret were fashionable in hats and the birds were hunted to low levels; populations have recovered now and mercury poisoning is the main threat.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jun 24, 2004
Japanese cormorant
* Japanese name: Umiu * Scientific name:Phalacrocorax capillatus * Description: Cormorants are striking, almost reptilian looking seabirds with long necks and bills. They are often seen standing on rocks with their wings held out to dry, their black feathers like the cloak of a witch or scarecrow. This primitive appearance has given them a sinister reputation. They grow to about 90 cm in length and their wingspan can reach 140 cm. * Where to find them: On both the Sea of Japan coast and the Pacific Ocean coast, cormorants can be seen from northern Kyushu all the way to Hokkaido. The birds nest in groups on coastlines, often on rocky cliffs and sometimes with other bird species. The nests are plate-shaped, made of grass and seaweed. They lay 4-5 light-blue eggs from the end of April to July * Food: Fish, including herring, rock fish and striped goby * Special features: Diving ability. Cormorants dive and swim underwater to hunt fish, which is why for more than a millennium they have been used by fishermen in Japan. Traditional cormorant fishing -- ukai -- involves fishermen using birds on leashes to catch fish (such as trout). Japanese cormorants are sexually dimorphic: The male is 25 percent heavier than the female, and can dive deeper and for longer than the female. Males can reach depths of 15 meters and remain underwater for almost a minute. Birds of both sexes dive quickly to their maximum depth, hunt for fish during a "bottom phase," and ascend. In ukai fishing, a metal ring is fastened around the base of the cormorant's neck, preventing it from swallowing any fish. A fire burning in a metal basket on the fishing boat attracts fish to the surface, and the birds dive on their leashes to catch them. Although this may seem like a cruel practice, in one way ukai cormorants do well out of it: The lifespan of a wild cormorant is about 4 to 5 years, but a ukai bird, well fed and cared for by the fishermen, can expect to live 15 to 20 years. Of course, fishing birds don't get to copulate and raise offspring, but you can't have it all.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jun 10, 2004
Snout butterfly
* Japanese name: Tengucho * Scientific name: Libythea celtis * Description: This butterfly with a wingspan of 19-29 mm is easily recognized: The upper sides of the wings are brown with large bright-orange and smaller white patches. The back edges of the forewing are deeply toothed. The Japanese name is a reference to the tengu, a legendary goblin priest from the mountains said to have an enormous red nose (it is not recorded whether the priest was a foreigner). The butterfly has unusually long sensory organs on the front of its head called palps. These segmented, leglike structures are used for tasting food. * Where to find them:In deciduous broad-leaved forests all over Japan, at altitudes up to 1,500m. In Europe this species is called the nettle-tree butterfly, because it is often seen in nettle trees (Celtis australis). It can be seen almost year-round, basking in the sun. When startled, it flies up vertically. It has an extensive range, living in North Africa and across the Eurasian landmass from Spain to Japan * Food:Adults eat nectar sucked in through their long tongue. The caterpillars have biting jaws and eat the leaves and buds of the nettle tree. Females lay two broods per year, and adults hibernate during winter. * Special features: Wooden masks of the tengu goblin are still popular in Japan, and the tengucho has its own sort of mask. Although the upper sides of the wings have bright orange markings, the undersides are very different, camouflaged to look like a dead leaf. When the animal rests among dead leaves with its wings together, either perching or hibernating, it is likely to be overlooked by a foraging animal. The disguise is aided by a lobe that extends past the forewing when the insect is at rest. The lobe and the toothed edge of the wing give the animal an irregular outline.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
May 27, 2004
Wood-boring beetle
* Japanese name: Ubatamamushi * Scientific name: Chalcophora japonica * Description: This beetle belongs to a group called the Buprestids. They are bullet-shaped and are often metallic-colored, though this species has brown and black stripes running the length of the body, which is flecked with gold. It has large, wide-set eyes in a head sunk into the thorax. The antennae are short. Adults are 24-40 mm long; the tadpole-shaped, legless larvae are white and grow from 8-50 mm. * Where to find them: From May through August, from Honshu to Kyushu, wood-boring beetles are often seeing flying in the sunshine and basking in sunny spots on flowers: The adults like the sun and fly in the hottest part of the day. This beetle sometimes lands on humans, particular on people wearing bright clothing . * Food: Adults feed on young buds and leaves of trees; larvae tunnel under tree bark, feeding on the wood. * Special features: These beetles are sometimes called "flat-headed wood-borers" because the larvae are dorsally flattened, with a broad thorax. The shape is an adaptation to wood-boring, which the larvae carry out vigorously, sometimes becoming serious pests. They infect dead or dying trees, if the latter then they usually select stressed and weakened trees. They tunnel just under the bark, feeding until they are ready to pupate. This period may last for many years. When ready, the larvae delve deeper into the heartwood of the tree. Adults emerge year-round, and leave a characteristic D-shaped hole in the bark. It is D-shaped because the adult is D-shaped in cross section, having a flat back and round belly. Females lay around 75 eggs in crevices in bark, or in wounds on trees. Interestingly, in this beetle males are sometimes selectively killed at the embryo stage, by a bacterium. This can result in a biased number of females in the population and sometimes, probably as a result of the lack of males, the females reproduce without them, and the eggs develop without sperm.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
May 13, 2004
Mudskipper
* Japanese name: Tobihaze * Scientific name:Periophthalmus sp. * Description: Mudskippers are fish with eyes on the top of the head (not at the sides like in most other fish) and with front (pectoral) fins that are more like legs than fins. They are olive-brown in color, have sharp teeth and large mouths, and grow up to 15-cm long. The eyes can be raised on stalks, independently of one another. * Where to find them:Mudskippers are found in the mud of mangroves and river estuaries in Honshu, Kyushu and Okinawa. They thrive in brackish water with a salinity halfway between marine saltwater and riverine freshwater. Mudskippers are unusual fish in that they can often be seen clinging to the branches of estuarine or mangrove trees, above the water line. * Food: Worms and crustaceans (crabs and shrimps) that live in the river mud. Some mudskipper species eat algae that grow on mangrove roots; others eat insects. * Special features: Mudskippers are amphibious fish. They have gills that work like those of other fish and extract oxygen from water, but unlike other fish, they can also breathe air. In this respect they are similar to lung fish, the ancestors of the first vertebrates to walk on land. Mudskippers absorb oxygen through their wet skin, and have sacs under the skin near the gills that act like lungs, transmitting oxygen from the air to the blood. Everything about mudskippers is an adaptation from the truly fish way of life, to one where much of the animal's time is spent out of the water. Their pectoral fins are so well adapted to use on land that mudskippers can run faster than they can swim. During the mating season, males dig mud burrows and perform acrobatics and push-ups to attract females. The dorsal fin becomes brightly colored and is flashed in warning to rival males. Females lay their eggs in the burrows, but as these are so deep, the water within them contains almost no oxygen. To ensure the eggs have enough oxygen to develop, males gulp air from the surface and release it at the bottom of the burrow. Mudskippers care for their offspring.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Apr 22, 2004
Amago salmon
* Japanese name: Amago * Scientific name:Oncorhynchus masou ishikawa * Description:Salmon are handsome fish with streamlined silver bodies. The scientific name means "hooked nose," and you will understand why if you see one. There are seven species of Pacific salmon, two of which occur in Asia. In Japan there are a number of subspecies which vary in the markings on the body (the amount of black and vermilion dots on the back and sides), and in their distribution. The species shown in the photo is called sakuramasu ("cherry trout") since the adults return to their native rivers from March to May, at the same time as cherry trees bloom across Japan. They grow up to 25 cm long. Amago salmon may also show parr marks, dark vertical stripes on the bodies of the fish. * Where to find them: On the Pacific Ocean side of Japan, from Hokkaido through Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. Amago are commonly found in mountainous rivers and streams because they like cold water (below 20 degrees). Amago are active during the day; they spawn from October to November. * Food:Amago feed on crustaceans and other fish. In coastal waters, sand lance and sand eel are commonly eaten. * Special features:Most amago subspecies remain in rivers for the entire life cycle, but some migrate to the ocean. Unlike other species of salmon, though, most amago don't stray far, remaining in bays and inlets. Juveniles migrate to the sea in autumn, and return to their home streams the following spring. Although they spend less than six months as ocean-going fish, amago undergo physiological changes to adapt to salt water, and are able, remarkably, to return to the same mountain streams where they were spawned. They achieve this feat by smell (the fish follow a steadily increasing gradient of chemicals that match those of their home stream) and by the Earth's magnetic field. Salmon don't feed on their homeward journeys, relying on stored body fat. When the fish finally reach the stream where they were hatched, the female digs a nest (a "redd") in the stream bed and lays 2,500 to 7,000 eggs. The male then covers the eggs in milt (sperm) to fertilize them. Both sexes, exhausted, then die.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Apr 8, 2004
Cuttlefish
* Japanese name: Kouika * Scientific name:Sepia esculenta * Description:Cuttlefish are marine animals in the same group as octopus and squid (cephalopods). They are soft-bodied but have a "bone" (actually an internal shell), which supports the mantle (body) and acts as a buoyancy regulator. Lying underneath the mantle, the bone is honeycombed and filled with gas. The cuttlefish can move up and down in the water by adjusting the ratio of gas to water in the cells of the bone. Mantle length is 18 cm and is a mottled brown color, although cuttlefish have the ability to change color. Color change may be for reasons of camouflage, sexual signaling or aggression. When the animal dies, the shell floats and can often be found washed up on beaches. Cuttlefish have eight tentacles, two longer feeding tentacles, large eyes and a siphon for jet propulsion. The siphon can be pointed in different directions, enabling the cuttlefish to steer. * Where to find them: In the ocean around Japan. Spawning season is spring and early summer. Lifespan is about a year. * Food: Cuttlefish are predators, their favorite food is shrimp and prawns. As well as their excellent vision, cuttlefish use tiny hairs on the head and tentacles to detect low-frequency vibrations made by their prey. * Special features: Sepia is the scientific name of this (and several other) species of cuttlefish, and the word is also used for a red-brown pigment used in painting and a brown color used in photography. When startled, cuttlefish may squirt sepia ink from their siphon and escape under its cover. The ink is protein-based and can be produced as a mucus blob or as a dispersing cloud. Cuttlefish have excellent, binocular vision. Their pupils are W-shaped and the eyes focus by moving the lens toward or away from the retina.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Apr 1, 2004
Water demon
* Japanese name: Kappa * Scientific name:Suijin kappensis * Description: Some sources claim that kappa are primates, but in fact they are the only known examples of an order of primitive mammals related to the duck-billed platypus. Remarkably for a mammal, kappas are bipedal. They have a curved duck's beak, as well as webbed hands and feet, yellow-green scaly skin, and a hard shell-like casing on their back. The scales and the shell are secondarily derived from fur (one of the defining characteristics of mammals). The top of the skull, uniquely, has a cavity which is filled with water. * Where to find them: As can be deduced from their adaptations to aquatic life, kappa live in and around rivers. They are endemic to Japan and can be found on all the islands, except Hokkaido, where it is too cold. Like other animals reliant on water, their populations have been badly affected by environmental degradation. Interestingly, encounters with kappa are most often reported after large amounts of alcohol have been consumed. * Food:Kappa have been rumored for centuries to eat horses, cattle and even children, but whatever their ancestral diet, kappa these days are vegetarian. They are particularly fond of cucumber, and the sushi roll filled with cucumber, kappamaki, is named in their honor. As important to a kappa as food, however, is water. Their brain activity can be so intense that a coolant system is needed to stop the animal overheating. To this end, the kappa has evolved a cavity in its skull which the animal must keep filled with water. If the water is spilled from the cavity, the animal's head overheats and it becomes extremely weak. * Special features:The bursts of brain activity can be greater than humans, hence the need for a coolant. But no one knows what kappa are thinking at the moments of intense brain activity. In times past, the kappa was thought to be mischievous, dangerous and even evil. In Japanese folklore, kappa represented the outsider. But as Japan has modernized, so the kappa has adapted to the new thinking. As outsiders are no longer feared and reviled as much as before, so the kappa is becoming at worst a benign presence, at best friendly and lovable.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Mar 25, 2004
Bell cricket
* Japanese name: Suzumushi * Scientific name:Homoeogryllus japonicus * Description: The bell cricket is a 2-cm-long insect in a family called Phalangopsidae. It's a small, not particularly attractive cricket, but it is very well known -- and loved -- in Japan for its song. It has a dark body and long, lighter-colored antennae. Like all insects, it has six legs; it has two pairs of wings, but the forewings are not used for flight. They are protective leathery covers (called tegmina) for the delicate hindwings. Bell crickets cannot fly well, however, and prefer to jump. The forewings are what produce the song: The edges are rubbed together and make a beautiful trilling sound, like a bell. * Where to find them: Bell crickets live in fallen leaves, undergrowth and in trees, from Honshu to Kysuhu. * Food: Bell crickets are omnivorous, eating through most of what they come across, whether plant, animal or fungi. When they mate, however, females get an extra snack called the spermatophore. This is a nutritious package produced by the male and given to the female in exchange for the privilege of mating with her. Females are known to choose between different males, and one thing they are looking for is the amount of food the male is willing to give in his spermatophore, which, for this reason, is also known as a "nuptial gift." * Special features:The cricket can vary the noise its wings make by vibrating its body as it rubs the wings together. This distorts the noise and makes the song of each male unique. In this way females can identify and learn about each male. Perhaps the Buddhists in Kegonji Temple in Kyoto know about that, because they raise some 50,000 crickets a year. The temple is also called Suzumushi-dera (Bell Cricket Temple), and for centuries people have gone there to meditate to the sound of the bell crickets' songs, which are said to signify the voice of Buddha. Japanese have also traditionally kept bell crickets in bamboo cages, though when I kept one in such a cage the cricket chewed through the bars and escaped.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Mar 11, 2004
River shrew
* Japanese name: Nihon kawanezumi * Scientific name:Chimarrogale platycephala * Description: Shrews are small mammals and are thought to be similar to the first mammals that evolved. Fur is dark gray-brown with a white-gray underside; the hindquarters are fringed with silvery hairs. They have small eyes and white whiskers. Their feet are fringed with short, stiff hairs. Head and body length ranges from 8-13.5 cm; tails are relatively long in this species, from 6-12.6 cm. Body weight ranges from 25-40 grams. River shrews are slightly larger than their wholly terrestrial cousins. * Where to find them: Japanese river shrews are endangered, but can still be found in clean mountain streams in Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. They have been found at high altitudes, up to 1,500 meters. "Clean" is the key word -- pollution is a major reason for the decline in river-shrew numbers. They are semiaquatic and can be found on the river banks, in waterfall plunge pools and in rivers. They are good swimmers and can walk on the bottom of the river. They are solitary except for when they are breeding; the entrances of their burrows are usually under water. They are active during the day. * Food:River shrews eat insects, aquatic larvae, crustaceans and small fish. They have extremely high metabolisms and must eat every few hours or they will die. They have a mild poison in their saliva which can stun their prey. They also secrete oils from scent glands which they use to mark out their territories and which may also repel potential predators (domestic cats refrain from eating river shrews, even if they don't refrain from killing them). * Special features:The shrew might be the basic mammalian type, but river shrews have evolved, adapting to their aquatic life. Like seals, they have dense fur which is highly water repellent (river shrews must groom themselves carefully), and like seals, they are able to close their ears when they submerge: River shrews have flaps which keep out the water. The fringes of stiff hairs on the lateral edges of their toes increase the area for pushing against the water. Likewise, the tail is longer than in other shrews and is helpful for steering underwater.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Feb 26, 2004
Pond turtle
* Japanese name: Ishigame * Scientific name:Mauremys japonica * Description:Also known as the stone turtle, the pond turtle is semiaquatic and a strong swimmer. It has a yellowish-brown carapace (shell) and an olive-brown head. Females are bigger than males, growing up to 21 cm long (carapace length), with males only 14 cm. But males have longer tails. Turtles of both sexes have a single keel (ridge) on the shell, which is serrated at the back edge. Pond turtles have orange lines on the sides of their legs. * Where to find them: Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu, in cool streams and ponds in the mountains, often in cold, fast-flowing water. They also live in canals and irrigation ditches for rice fields. In winter, pond turtles hibernate on the bottoms of streams and ponds. If disturbed, they may produce a foul-smelling secretion as a deterrent. Once common in Japan, their numbers have fallen dramatically recently, due (experts say) to competition from foreign turtle species that have escaped from captivity. One to three times a year, females lay four to 10 eggs in dry underground burrows, and if the eggs are not eaten by raccoon dogs, weasels or snakes, they hatch in two to three months. Mating (usually underwater) can be aggressive, and females may sustain deep bites to the head and neck. * Food:The pond turtle's diet is varied, and includes water insects and larvae, mollusks, tadpoles, frogs, filamentous algae, earthworms, small amphibians and tadpoles. * Special features:All animals that hibernate in winter reduce their metabolism so they can survive without eating for long periods, but pond turtles have another particularly cool trick. They hibernate underwater, at the bottom of their pond or river. Their body temperature and heart rate fall (to a single, sluggish beat every few minutes), and they stop breathing through the mouth. But they can't do without oxygen for the entire winter, so they extract what they need from the water, using specialized cells in their tails.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Feb 12, 2004
Mourning gecko
* Japanese name: Ogasawara yamori * Scientific name: Lepidodactylus lugubris
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jan 22, 2004
Hybrid monkey
* Japanese name: Nihon zaru * Scientific name: Macaca fuscata/cyclopis * Description: Macaques have thick fur everywhere apart from their characteristic bare red face. The Japanese macaque, Macaca fuscata, is the only native species of (nonhuman) primate in Japan. There is another primate species living on these islands: Taiwanese macaques, M. cyclopis. The Taiwanese macaques escaped from private zoos last century and bred with native macaques. The result is a hybrid population of monkeys. * Where to find them: A 1990 estimate put the numbers of native macaques at 35,000-50,000. However, due to deforestation and shooting by farmers, the population has been declining and Japanese macaques are listed as threatened. There is also a rare subspecies found in Yakushima, Macaca fuscata yakui, which is listed as endangered. * Food: Fruit, leaves, berries, seeds, insects, buds, shoots and small vertebrates. Macaques also raid crops. When food is scarce in winter, they rely on fat laid down in the summer. * Special features: Little is known about how hybridization has affected macaque behavior. Taiwanese macaques tend to form small groups with one male controlling the females, whereas Japanese macaques are sexually promiscuous. Female Japanese macaques like novelty, preferring to mate with new males rather than ones they've mated with over the last 4-5 years. In a declining population, such behavior will maximize what genetic diversity there is left. Like humans, macaques have opposable thumbs. Researchers have reported seeing macaques using their thumbs to make snowballs, and rolling them in the snow to make bigger snowballs. It was not reported whether the macaques had snowball fights, but friends of mine told me they once encountered a group of macaques that stoned them as they approached. Such an original yet ill-tempered response is typical of macaques, and indeed is said to be typical of those humans born in the year of the monkey.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jan 15, 2004
Jelly blob
* Japanese name: Oomari-kokemush * Scientific name:Pectinatella magnifica * Description:The common name says it all. This organism looks like nothing so much as a quivering lump of jelly. It is often mistaken for the egg mass of some animal, but in fact the blob is itself a colony of tiny animals. They are bryozoans, which literally means "moss animals." Bryozoans form slimy gelatinous colonies, 99 percent water in composition. Colonies may be around 60 cm in diameter, but can form large balls over 1 meter in diameter. * Where to find them: Most bryozoans are marine, but some are found in fresh water. Jelly blobs can be found in warm, fertile ponds and lakes, and slow-moving rivers from Honshu to Kyushu. * Food: Bryozoans feed by beating a crown of tiny ciliated tentacles, called the lophophore. This creates currents that draw in microscopic plankton such as algae; the jelly blob filters out the plankton. The water flow around bryozoan colonies is attractive to other types of freshwater invertebrates. Flatworms, snails, mites and insect larvae such as caddis flies and midges may live near the jelly blob, and feed on the larvae it produces. * Special features: Bryozoa are fortunate in that they can enjoy both sexual and asexual reproduction. Sexually produced larvae look like tiny balloons (you'll need a microscope to see them). They float in the water for anywhere between a few minutes and 24 hours, until they bump into a stone or a plant, to which they attach themselves. Then they start "budding": dividing asexually and creating a new individual that is a clone of the original animal. Asexual budding also forms multicellular structures called "statoblasts." These are also clones of the parent animal, but are dormant in winter and resist drying and cold temperatures. Statoblasts bob around in the water until they encounter a suitable structure, which they hook onto with the aid of tiny claws. When the amount of sunlight reaches suitable levels and the temperature rises to around 25 degrees, the statoblast germinates and buds one to five new animals, so forming a new colony.
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Dec 25, 2003
Anchor worm
* Japanese name: Ikarimushi * Scientific name: Lernaea cyprinacea * Description: The anchor worm is a small parasite (1-1.5 cm long) that lives in the muscles of freshwater fishes. The female anchor worm has a tubular body divided into a cephalothorax, thoracic region and abdomen. However, you're unlikely to see all these areas, as the front part of the parasite bears hooks that anchor it in the muscle of the host. The anchors are cylindrical, branched outgrowths on the cephalothorax. The remainder of the animal hangs like a string outside the host's body. This part forms a Y shape, made up of two egg sacs. Anchor worms are not true worms, they are free-living copepods, a type of crustacean. * Where to find them: Attached to the body of host fish, most commonly at the base of the fins. The attachment process can cause acute hemorrhage and ulcers at the site of penetration (ulcers are the result of bacterial infection). While the host may sometimes die from blood loss and secondary infections, the anchor worm would rather the fish stay alive, as this allows it to produce several hundred eggs every two weeks. * Food: Fish blood. For parasites, at least, there is such a thing as a free lunch. * Special features: Only female anchor worms are parasitic. The males are free-living but live for only one thing: to have sex. They die after mating. The larvae hatch and live off yolk material in their bodies and grow through 3 molts without feeding, reaching the first parasitic larval stage in as little as 4 to 8 days. Like many other crustaceans, anchor worms have a shell, which protects the parasite when the fish, irritated by its presence, tries to scrape it off by rubbing against rocks (or, in the case of pet fish, on the sides of the tank). Anchor worms are unusual parasites in that they have little host specificity, infecting a wide range of fishes, including trout, salmon, goldfish and koi, first bred in Japan 160 years ago. Even tadpoles of some frogs may be infected with anchor worms.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Dec 11, 2003
Writing spider
* Japanese name: Koganegumi * Scientific name:Argiope amoena * Description: Writing spiders, also known as yellow garden spiders, have an egg-shaped abdomen with yellow or orange markings on a black background. The legs have red or yellow sections. While insect bodies are generally comprised of three sections -- head, thorax and abdomen -- spiders have two: an abdomen and a cephalothorax, which in writing spiders is covered in silvery hairs. There is sexual dimorphism in size: females range from 19-25 mm, males reach only 5-9 mm. * Where to find them:All over Japan (except Hokkaido) in rice fields, open land and gardens. Webs are constructed over several hours each day, and consumed at night. The next morning, the spider usually builds a web in the same place. Males build smaller webs on the edges of the female's web. After mating, females produce one to three egg sacs, each containing 300 to 1,400 eggs, and attach them to the center of the web. She guards the sacs until she dies at the beginning of winter. The spiderlings emerge from the sac in spring. * Food: Aphids, flies, moths, dragonflies, crickets, bees, wasps -- in short, any small winged insect that is caught in its web. Writing spiders may bite humans if handled, but the venom is not dangerous to us. * Special features: Writing spiders are so named for the extraordinary zig-zag patterns they often weave into their webs. These are called stabilimenta, because they were once thought to provide structural stability. But their real function is not well understood. Some biologists think the patterns attract flying insects, luring them to their death, but other studies have shown that webs with more stabilimenta attract fewer insects. Alternatively, they might function like the Xs of duct tape humans stick on windows to discourage birds from flying into them. They might also help the spider detect the various prey stuck in the web, since stabilimenta vary the tension of the silk threads. Whatever the function, it is probably visual rather than structural, because only diurnal spiders construct stabilimenta.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Nov 27, 2003
Feral goat
* Japanese name: Yagi * Scientific name:Capra hircus * Description: Feal goats are smaller and stockier than their domesticated relatives. Males (billies) weigh 30 to 45 kg, females (nannies) 25 to 35 kg; they are 60 to 70 cm high. The color varies from white to dark brown, black or gray, and while the coat is often rough and greasy (so would yours if you lived on a hillside), the underwool is soft and highly insulating. Goats have sturdy horns: some curve backward, some spread outward and some are stubby. But they are always larger in males than females. * Where to find them:Feral goats are typically found in mountainous areas and on coastal cliffs where there are caves for shelter and where the terrain is good for escaping from predators. The kids (usually just one) are born in late winter/early spring. The nanny leaves her kid in a sheltered spot for a few days after giving birth, while she feeds. Nannies suckle their kids for 3 to 4 months. When nannies are in estrus, the billies get aggressive. Younger males will roam large areas in the hope of finding an estrus nanny not being defended by a male. * Food: Goats are not fussy eaters, feeding on herbs, grass, roots and heath. * Special features: Even goats have special features. The undercoat of the Himalayan goat is valuable: the wool is fine and soft and used to make pashmina shawls. (Four goats must be combed to provide the wool for one shawl.) A herd of goats was introduced to Mucojima Island in 1800, but the human inhabitants abandoned the island soon after and the goats made it theirs. They ate most of the vegetation, and as a result all the trees on the island have died and certain bird species have been wiped out. A similar situation occurred in 1978, when a Japanese group intentionally released a pair of goats on Uotsurijima, one of a group of southwestern islands that Japan calls the Senkaku. There are now more than 300 goats, and some endemic species face extinction in the near future as a result. But the problem is not just ecological, it is political: Ownership of the islands is disputed by Japan, China and Taiwan.
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