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ANIMAL TRACKER

Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Nov 13, 2003
Sea slug
* Japanese name: Amakesaamefurashi * Scientific name: Aplysia juliana * Description: Sea slugs are marine mollusks, without gills or a shell -- just like most other mollusks. Often a dark olive-green color, at first glance a sea slug resembles nothing more than a stray piece of seaweed, but with a sucker on the end of its foot. Using the toe sucker to anchor itself, the sea slug can stretch out its head and neck. Sea slugs can also swim by flapping the flanges of their flattened bodies, like wings. They range in color from pale brown to black and often have whitish patches on the body; tropical species can be brightly colored. Sea slugs -- also called sea hares -- grow from 20-45 mm long. * Where to find them: FAround the coast, in algal tidal pools. Sea slugs may be found by sorting through algae. Sometimes they can be found out of the water, sometimes partly buried in mud. * Food: Sea slugs are herbivores and feed on green sea lettuce and algae. The color of the animal's body varies according to the type of algae it eats. They have vertical mouths. * Special features: Many sea slugs produce a purple ink if they are disturbed. They have a gland (the opaline gland) that produces ink, like octopuses and squid. The species in the photo is one of the few that does not: It produces a milky white secretion. Sea slugs are hermaphrodites, meaning they possess both male and female sets of genitalia. But they do not self-fertilize (they don't use their own sperm to fertilize their eggs). They mate ventrally ("face to face," rather than one mounting the other) and produce long strings of bright yellow eggs. Mating can occur any time of the year, except midwinter, and takes place in bouts, with individuals alternating the male role and donating sperm. The eggs are thought to contain chemicals derived from their plant food which are distasteful to potential predators. The eggs change color (to pink) as the larvae inside develops.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Oct 23, 2003
Freshwater pearl mussel
* Japanese name: Kawashinjukai * Scientific name:Margaritifera laevis * Description: Mussels are bivalves: mollusks that have their body contained between two shells. Young freshwater pearl mussels often have yellowish-brown shells, which become green-tinged and darker as they mature. This animal grows very slowly, and can take 100 years to reach 15 cm long. * Where to find them: Mussels live partly buried in sand, gravel and small stones in clean, fast-flowing, unpolluted rivers and streams. The need for clean water is one of the reasons why pearl mussels are much harder to find today. The other is because they produce pearls, which has caused them to be heavily exploited by humans across their whole range, from Japan in the east to Ireland in the west. * Food: This animal draws water through siphons that protrude from the shell. Tiny organic particles are filtered out and the mussel feeds on these. Some researchers believe this filtration helps to keep river water clean, which benefits other species, such as salmon and trout. * Special features: In early summer (June to July), the males spawn. Sperm is released into the water and drawn in by the females as if it were food particles. But the females don't swallow it; they use it to fertilize their eggs, which develop in a pouch on the gills for several weeks. From July to September, the tiny larvae (0.7 mm long), called glochidia, are released. Each female releases between 1 and 4 million glochidia, almost simultaneously, over a few days; almost all die. A few, however, get filtered through the gills of salmon or trout, and some of these manage to attach themselves to the fish's gills. There they remain for the next six months, growing in the oxygen-rich environment, until they drop off when spring comes.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Oct 9, 2003
Aggregating anemone
* Japanese name: Yoroiisoginchaku * Scientific name:Anthopleura japonica * Description: Anemones are marine invertebrates, cylindrical animals with rings of tentacles on the upper surface. They are related to jellyfish and corals. Aggregating anemones grow up to 3 cm in diameter and can have a brilliant green sheen. The tentacles are arranged in circles and stout at the base; the mouth is at the center of the upper surface. * Where to find them: Attached to rocks in the low and middle intertidal zone (the part of the beach daily covered by the tides). Anemones can also be found higher up the beach in rock pools. If an anemone is not in a rock pool when the tide goes out, it will draw its tentacles in and close up, preventing excessive water loss and making the anemone difficult to see. They also live in subtidal zones, at depths of up to 25 meters. Aggregating anemones (which are found all over the world) often live in groups, hence their name. * Food: Mainly small planktonic organisms, microscopic animals and plants that live in the sea. Anemones catch their food in their sticky tentacles and draw it into their mouth. They will also eat bits of dead organisms such as jellyfish that might be floating about, and the larvae of all sorts of animals. * Special features: Like corals, the aggregating anemone forms symbiotic relationships with other organisms. These are usually algae (plants), or dinoflagellates (single-celled organisms that are in neither the plant nor animal kingdoms) that live in the anemone's body. The presence of these symbiotic organisms affects the color of the anemone. If they have no symbionts, they are white. Aggregating anemones can form large groups, and all individuals within a group are genetically identical: they are clones of each other. Reproduction is not spectacular in these animals: When an anemone gets to a certain size (about 3 cm) it simply splits in two.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Sep 25, 2003
Flatbottom Sea Star
* Japanese name: Kihitode * Scientific name: Asterias amurensis * Description: Sea stars are echinoderms, in the same family as sea urchins and sea cucumbers, though unlike those animals they are not eaten in Japan. Like all echinoderms (which means "spiny skin" in Greek), sea stars have a five-way radial symmetry. This means they have five "arms," with suckers on the bottom. These are often called starfish, but they aren't fish. For one thing, they lack an internal skeleton. And on their surface, at the center, is the anus; their mouths are located just opposite -- on the underside. Each arm has an "eye," really just a light-sensitive spot that can sense the general direction of light. There are sex organs at the junction between arms. Flatbottom sea stars can grow up to 25 cm in diameter. * Where to find them: Only in the sea, never on land or in fresh water, and always on the sea floor. Large rock pools are a good place to look for them. * Food: The suckers of the sea star's arms help it hold onto the sea floor when the current is strong, and also help it catch prey, including barnacles, snails, sea urchins, clams and mussels. The sea star forces open the shell of its prey and eats the contents, even through the smallest of gaps. * Special features: Some of the bumps on the surface of the sea star are used to absorb oxygen, and some are organs the sea star uses to clean itself. This prevents barnacles from growing on its surface. If an arm of a sea star is damaged, it can be "dropped," in a way similar to how lizards can discard their tails. The sea star then regenerates a new arm. In some species, the arm can be dropped even when it is not damaged. In this case, a new arm is grown back, and the old arm can regenerate a new body.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Sep 11, 2003
Firefly squid
* Japanese name: Hotaru ika * Scientific name: Watasenia scintillans * Description: With a body length of just 4-6 cm, these squid are small but perfectly formed. Squid have a streamlined head and body, with eight arms and two tentacles around the head. (Octopi don't have tentacles, which are longer than arms and have suckers only at the tips.) Squid have a hard, penlike structure in the body, the remnant of the shell that the animals they evolved from used to support the body. Like other cephalopods (marine mollusks also including octopus and cuttlefish), squid have a well-developed head, a large brain and eyes with a structural design superior to those of vertebrates. The arms and tentacles are prehensile (they can grip things in a similar way to hands). All squid move by jet propulsion, by squirting water out of a cavity in the body, but firefly squid are unmistakable -- they also emit bright light from 1,000 individual light cells all over their bodies. * Where to find them: During the day, 200 to 600 meters below the surface of the sea. At night they come up to feed. * Food: Shrimp, crabs, fish * Special features: The tips of the tentacles of the firefly squid have light-producing organs called photophores, which are flashed on and off to lure small fish into striking range. But the squid can also emit light from the rest of its body. During the spawning season (March to May), they come close to shore and can be seen, famously, in Toyama Bay, Toyama Prefecture, designated a Special Natural Monument. The V-shaped canyon in the bay where the squid gather has a current that pushes the squid to the surface. Along the coast from Uozu to Mizuhashi in Toyama City is a good place to see them. What is the function of their phosphorescence? It might disrupt the squid's outline and confuse potential predators. It might also be used to attract prey but, more likely, the glowing lights attract mates, as the firefly squid is the only cephalopod known to have color vision..
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Aug 28, 2003
Japanese black face fly
* Japanese name: Kuroi ebae * Scientific name: Musca bezzii * Description: Face flies are similar to common house flies, but they are larger and darker. If in doubt, check the eyes: Those of the face fly almost touch at the top, but those of house flies have a wider gap between them. The face of the face fly has a velvety stripe on each side and the body has a silver sheen. Like all true flies (Diptera), face flies have only one pair of wings. In dipterans the second pair has been reduced, by evolution, to a pair of tiny structures like drumsticks, which act as gyroscopes when the insect flies. Thus the fly is able to make high-speed, accurate changes in its flight path if it encounters a disturbance (such as a human trying to swat it). * Where to find them: Face flies are common on farms and near cattle, because that's where their food is. * Food: Adult face flies earn their name from the place they go to eat. They sit on the faces of horses and cows and feed on the secretions around the eyes and nostrils. The hapless creatures suffer great discomfort from the attentions of the face fly, but are unable to do much about it. Though the adults are nourished by mucus, the larval diet is more unpleasant still: fresh manure. In summer, eggs are laid in the manure. The pale yellow larvae live and feed in dung until they are mature, after which they pupate in the soil under the manure. * Special features: When temperatures start to drop after the summer months, adult face flies may congregate on the walls of buildings. Warmed by the sun (especially on south-facing walls), face flies become active and have been known to infest buildings, sometimes in large numbers, especially buildings on or close to farms. During winter, the flies often hibernate on the walls of homes, too.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jul 31, 2003
Alpine black swallowtail
* Japanese name: Miyama-Karasuageha * Scientific name: Papilio maackii * Description: Widely held to be one of the most beautiful butterflies in Japan, the Alpine black swallowtail has a wing span of 38-75 mm and is covered in iridescent green or blue scales. Males have a green metallic shimmer to the wings. Females, which are bigger than males, are more blue-toned. * Where to find them: Widespread across Japan from Hokkaido to Kyushu, the Alpine black's flying season is from March to October. The prefix of the Japanese name, miyama, means "deep forest," but the Alpine black can be found even at the edges of forests, especially near azalea bushes. It can also be found in grasslands, and in lowlands and on the coast, if there is grass present. There are usually two broods of Alpine blacks a year, the first in April-May, the second in July-August. Butterflies in the summer brood are larger. * Food: Their favorite food is the nectar of mikan trees, and other fruit trees in the mikan family, such as mandarin. They also drink nectar from azaleas. * Special features: Like other swallowtail butterflies, Alpine blacks will congregate in large groups. The behavior (called "hilltopping") may be related to mate selection, as most of the females who group are "virgins." Females that have already mated are not usually found in the groups. Mating partners are decided after an elaborate courtship dance. The male then grasps the female and transfers a package of sperm called a spermatophore. If the pair are disturbed during transfer, they may take to the wing, flying in tandem, joined at the genitals. Once the male has copulated with a female, he seals her genital opening with a mating plug, called a sphragis. This prevents another male from mating with her and protects his genetic investment.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jul 17, 2003
Red fox
* Japanese name: Kitsune * Scientific name: Vulpes vulpes japonica * Description: Foxes look somewhat like dogs and belong to the same family. The fur of the red fox is orange-rust colored, apart from the throat, belly and tip of the tail, which are white. The feet and the rims of the ears are black. There are two subspecies in Japan: kitakitsune, which live in Hokkaido and are 60-80 cm long; and hondokitsune, which live from Honshu to Kyushu and are generally smaller, 52-76 cm long. * Where to find them: In forests, around farms and in urban areas. They are mainly solitary and are active at night. They live in a den in a territory of between 5 and 50 sq. km, marked out with urine and with scent from anal glands. Males have larger territories than females. * Food: Small mammals, birds, frogs, invertebrates (insects, snails, worms), carrion, fruit and berries. Around 60 percent of their diet consists of mice and other rodents (foxes can hear a mouse squeak from 100 meters away). Foxes sometimes catch game birds, usually sick or weak ones. City foxes, like the ragged-looking one in the photo, tend to scavenge for food more than their countryside cousins. * Special features: December to February is the mating season, and males stalk females for weeks before they finally mate (the female may mate with several males before settling on a partner, however). After 7-8 weeks, the female stays in the den and food is brought to her by the male. She then gives birth to 3-6 blind, deaf, fur-covered cubs. After about two months, the cubs start exploring the outside world, learning hunting techniques while playing. By the end of autumn, the now unruly juveniles are driven away by the parents. They reach sexual maturity in their first winter. In Japan, foxes were long considered to be spirits, delivering messages for Inari, the god of rice. Folk stories tell of their mischievous nature. In one, a husband discovers his wife is a fox when he sees her bushy tail poking out from under the quilt. However the fox-wife is a good spirit and helps her husband avoid paying his rice tax.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jul 3, 2003
Large field mouse
* Japanese name: Aka nezumi * Scientific name: Apodemus speciosus (large field mouse) * Description: These mice are 9-14 cm long, with hazel-brown fur on top, and a white throat and belly. They have large black eyes, a well-developed sense of smell and sensitive whiskers. Females have eight nipples. * Where to find them: Pretty much everywhere from grassy fields and farms to riversides and forests, from Hokkaido to Kyushu. They are nocturnal. During the day they live in their burrows. * Food: Like all small mammals, field mice have very fast metabolisms and need to eat lots to survive. So they are not fussy eaters, taking insects as well as roots, grains, seeds, berries and nuts. * Special features: Field mice are capable swimmers. Most individuals live their entire lives and die within 180 meters of their birthplace. They give birth to a litter of 1-8 young, up to six times a year. They are not confined to a breeding season and females can become pregnant at any time, like humans. A sister species, the small field mouse (Apodemus argenteus), lives in woodlands and has 2-12 young. In both species the males are more or less monogamous and help the female in raising the young. The small field mouse is said to be cuter (its name in Japanese, hime nezumi, means princess mouse). It spends at least half of its time in trees (collecting seeds and insects) and may even live in abandoned bird nests. Both species of field mice can harbor infectious diseases, such as Lyme disease. This is spread when ticks feed on the blood of the mice and become infected by the bacteria. A bite from an infected tick can pass Lyme disease to humans.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jun 19, 2003
Tiger keelback
* Japanese name: Yamakagashi * Scientific name: Rhabdophis tigrinus * Description: The tiger keelback is so named for the beautiful colored pattern of its scales. The snake's head and body are basically olive green, but its flanks are orange, and there are several rows of black spots running down the body. The underside of the snake is yellow. These snakes can be large, growing between 70-150 cm long. * Where to find them: They are common in Japan, found from Honshu to Kyushu, in fields, mountainous areas and often near water. They are active from April to November, but hibernate the rest of the year. Reproduction takes place in the summer months and females lay between two and 40 eggs. * Food: Keelbacks' favorite food is frogs. Like other snakes, keelbacks dislocate their jaw in order to swallow prey larger than their own heads. Keelbacks can swallow large bull frogs whole. * Special features: There have only been 29 reported cases of keelback bites since 1917, thanks to the position of the venom-injecting fangs and the venom glands at the rear of the mouth. Bites tend to happen when it's warm, between April and October, and most occur when people try to catch snakes they've found indoors. The venom evolved by tiger keelbacks causes internal bleeding and prevents the blood from coagulating. Symptoms include continuous bleeding from the bite wound, bleeding from the gums, blood in the urine and bleeding from the wound into the surrounding tissues. Nasty though this sounds, fatalities are rare as antivenom is available. This is obtained by injecting tiny amounts of venom into rabbits and goats; these animals then produce antivenom that can be extracted. Keelbacks also have poison glands on their necks. If these glands are pressed hard -- for example, when they are picked up and held -- they discharge yellow fluid that can damage the eyes if it comes into direct contact.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jun 5, 2003
Japanese marten
* Japanese name: Nihon ten * Scientific name: Martes melampus * Description: Martens are weasel-like animals but much larger and more powerfully built. Males are 45-49 cm long (females 41-43 cm) and the tail adds another 17-20 cm. They weigh 1.3-5 kg. In winter they have orange fur and a white face, often with paler fur at the throat. In the summer, the coat changes and the face turns black. * Where to find them: From Honshu to Kyushu, in forests and woods. Martens have wide hands and feet, with sharp claws, enabling them to climb trees. They live alone and are active both day and night. There is a subspecies that lives on Tsushima Island. Although its numbers are not large, this subspecies is legally protected. Population sizes have dropped all over Japan because of excessive hunting for fur and because of the harmful effects of agricultural insecticides. Unfortunately, you might have a better chance seeing a dead marten, like the one in this photo, than a live one. * Food: Like all mustelids, martens have sharp teeth, strong jaws and a powerful bite. They are agile predators. Most use scent to track their prey, though their hearing is also well-developed. Rats and mice are probably the most preyed upon animal, but frogs may also be eaten. Some eat a high proportion of insects or other invertebrates, others primarily fruit or honey. * Special features: Breeding takes place in early spring. In many species of marten, however, birth does not occur until the following year. The gestation period lasts more than 300 days because of delayed implantation. The fertilized egg starts dividing as it travels down the oviduct, and when it reaches the uterus (it is now a blastocyst, an embryo), it becomes inactive and cell division stops. The blastocyst remains inactive for months before it implants itself into the womb wall and normal development continues. In the Japanese marten, a litter of two young are born. The kittens have little fur and are altricial. And after such a marathon pregnancy, what does the female do? She mates again within the week.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
May 22, 2003
Katydid
* Japanese name: Sesuji tsuyumushi * Scientific name: Ducetia japonica * Description: Katydids (also known as bush crickets) belong to a family of grasshoppers and crickets called the Tettigoniidae. The insects in this family have very long antennae, like threads, sometimes two or three times the length of the body, which in this species is about 35 mm. * Where to find them: In bushes and scrubby grassland from Honshu to Kyushu. Katydids are more nocturnal than crickets and grasshoppers. They become active in the afternoon and stay up long into the night. * Food: Leaves and stems. Some katydids are carnivorous, but this species is vegetarian and has mouthparts for chewing. * Special features: Insects in the order Orthoptera are famous for the sounds they produce to communicate. Grasshoppers and locusts call by scraping a comb of pegs on their hind legs against the edges of their forewings. Crickets and katydids do it by rubbing their wings together. Like males of many nocturnal species, the males of Ducetia japonica sing to unseen females and put a lot of energy into their calls. But most of the sounds are high in the ultrasonic range, outside the range of our hearing. Like other orthopterans, katydids have a tympanum (ear) on each foreleg, just below the "knee." The insect is green and looks remarkably like a leaf, which is not surprising, since they live in vegetation and want to avoid being eaten by birds and mice. Males have a pair of claspers at the end of the abdomen called cerci, which they use to hold onto the female during mating. Females have a huge curved ovipositor (egg-layer) on their abdomens. Katydids undergo gradual metamorphosis, changing from wingless nymphs to winged adults. Orthopterans: Any of a large order of mostly plant-eating insects that have chewing mouthparts and undergo metamorphosis. Tympanum: A drumlike membrane in certain insects that vibrates, allowing them to hear.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
May 8, 2003
Japanese weasel
* Japanese name: Nihon itachi * Scientific name: Mustela itatsi * Description: Japanese weasels are fairly small mammals in the mustelid family (a large family of animals that includes otters, badgers, stoats, polecats, martens and skunks). Males are 29-37 cm long, females 20-26 cm. The fur is an orange-brown color. Sometimes there is a darker brown patch on the nose; the throat fur is usually white. * Where to find them: Originally distributed in woods, farmland, brushy areas and mountainous regions from Honshu to Kyushu, Japanese weasels can also be found in Hokkaido now. The animal likes water, and may be seen on the shore of rivers and streams. If there is mud, look for footprints. In the water, this weasel resembles a small otter. * Food: Weasels are dedicated carnivores, skilful, agile hunters with sharp, needlelike teeth. Common prey items include mice, insects, fish and frogs. Food items may sometimes be stored in caches. Weasels like to take prey such as mice by the neck, and pierce the throat and brain. The scientific name means "to carry off mice." Birds of prey, foxes, martens and even domestic cats will kill weasels, so they are extremely cautious animals, only moving into the open with great care. They start easily and will quickly vanish if disturbed. Weasels are inquisitive and will investigate holes and crannies in rocks, trees and undergrowth, searching for mouse runways. They use their sensitive nose and ears to locate prey. * Special features: Like skunks, weasels produce a smelly secretion from an anal gland. The scent is not as offensive to humans as a skunk's, but it is designed to repel predators. Weasels live in dens in hollow logs and tree stumps, lining their hole with feathers or grasses. Weasels become sexually mature before they are a year old and have litters of 4-5 young, which are cared for by both parents. Despite their antipredator weapon, weasels are clean animals and use a special latrine area for defecation.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Apr 24, 2003
Bottlenose dolphin
* Japanese name: Bandou iruka * Scientific name: Tursiops truncatus * Description: Dolphins are marine mammals, toothed whales, with a broad dorsal fin and a long snout with a characteristic "smile." They grow to between 1.9 and 4 meters long, and weigh 90-650 kg, living for up to 50 years. The dorsal side of the body is dark blue, brown-gray or even silver in color; the underside is white-pink; and the tip of the snout is usually white. Like other whales, they breath through a blow hole. The body tapers into a powerful V-shaped tail, and the tail fins (called flukes) propel the animal through the water at high speeds. The name "Tursiops" comes from the Latin word tursio (porpoise) and the Greek ops (face). * Where to find them: Bottlenose dolphins can be seen off the coast of all parts of Japan, even north to Hokkaido. They live in groups of 20 to 200. They can also be seen in the open ocean -- and on supermarket shelves across Japan. * Food: Dolphins are opportunistic foragers: They eat a wide range of animals, including fish, and invertebrates such as shrimp and squid. They eat around 6 kg of seafood a day. They hunt by using sonar, often working in a team to "herd" fish. Pregnant dolphins gestate for 12 months, and young suckle milk for up to 18 months. * Special features: Dolphins have lost the body hair characteristic of other mammals, and teats and genitals are hidden in the streamlined body. The nasal passage opening in the blow hole is separated from the throat (in us and other mammals, the passage is shared), enabling dolphins to open their mouths underwater without drowning. But the most extraordinary characteristic of dolphins is their intelligence: They have larger brains than humans. They communicate with elaborate whistles and rasps. Scientists have yet to decipher dolphin "language," but the hope is that one day humans will be able to communicate with them. Dolphin whistles are thought to be "signatures": nametags for individual dolphins. Newborn dolphins quickly develop their own unique signature whistles. Adults can mimic the signature whistles of other dolphins: This might mean that they can call dolphins by name.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Apr 10, 2003
Field cricket
* Japanese name: Enma korogi * Scientific name: Teleogryllus emma * Description: The field cricket is a black to dark-brown insect, about 25 mm long. Crickets are orthopterans, in the same group as grasshoppers. They have large heads and wings that are folded flat against the back, except when the cricket is calling, with its wings raised and rubbing together (as in the photo). They have long antennae and two hairy prongs sticking out the end of the abdomen. These prongs are called cerci and are used to detect movement. Females also have another structure protruding from the abdomen called an ovipositor, which is used to lay eggs. Like all orthopterans, the hind legs of field crickets are very well-developed, enabling them to jump large distances when disturbed. Nymphs look like adults but are smaller and have no wings or ovipositors. * Where to find them: This cricket is common in Honshu and Kyushu, and can often be found in farmland, yards, gardens and suburban areas, under rocks and logs. * Food: Crickets have chewing mouthparts and are herbivorous, eating plant materials, including leaves, shoots and roots. They are sometimes considered pests by farmers. * Special features: Crickets are able to fly, but usually leap to avoid predators. Instead of being used for flight, the forewings, which are thick and leathery, are rubbed together to produce a chirping noise. The chirping is used to notify intruders of already occupied territories or to attract a female, and the attractive sound is the reason that crickets were traditionally kept in wooden cages in Japan. Males produce a spermatophore, a nutritious package containing sperm, and attach it to the female's external genitalia. While the female is occupied consuming the outer part of the package, the part that is attached to her releases sperm, which the female stores internally. The female lays eggs either one by one or in groups, by inserting her ovipositor into soft, damp soil.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Mar 27, 2003
Black salamander
* Japanese name: Kuro sansho uo * Scientific name: Hynobius nigrescens * Description: Salamanders are considered primitive amphibians in comparison to frogs and toads. Like all amphibians, however, salamanders spend their lives in two entirely different states. The larvae are aquatic, breathing water through gills, and the adults are terrestrial, breathing air through lungs. Adults have smooth, glossy, black-spotted brown skin and are 12-20 cm long. * Where to find them: Black salamanders belong to a family of salamanders (the Hynobiids) whose distribution is entirely Asian. In Japan they can be found in and around streams and bodies of water in mountainous regions of Honshu. Adult black salamanders hibernate in winter and enter the water only to breed. Reproduction is external: Females spawn a mass of eggs (said to resemble Japanese gravestones in shape), and then males scramble to fertilize them. The successful male releases sperm on top of the eggs. By May, the larvae are 4-5 cm long, and their front and back legs are starting to sprout from their bodies (see photo). Unlike frogs and toads, salamanders retain their tails in the adult state. * Food: Adults will eat most things they can fit into their mouths, including worms, insects, slugs and even small mice, if they can catch them. Larvae eat insect larvae, freshwater snails and tadpoles. * Special features: Some salamanders have more DNA than us. Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes, making 46 in total. (Chromosomes are the structures in our cells where our DNA, our genetic material, is stored.) Yet some salamanders in the Hynobiid family have 62 chromosomes in total. Geneticists have yet to decide exactly why they need so much DNA, but it is thought that the large number of chromosomes, and certain other features (such as the presence of an angular bone in the lower jaw) indicate that Hynobiids are primitive, resembling the ancestral form of all salamanders. Remarkably, there have been reports of parental care of eggs by male black salamanders. Apparently, males defend the fertilized egg mass (a tasty, nutritious snack for many animals) against predators.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Mar 13, 2003
Singing frog
* Japanese name: Kajika gaeru * Scientific name: Buergeria buergeri * Scientific name: * Description: The Japanese singing frog, known for its "fififi" call, is brown or gray-black. Other frogs merely croak or call, but this frog sings. In Japan it was once common to keep the singing frog in a special box, the better to hear its beautiful song, which, it is said, has a cooling effect in the heat of summer. (Confinement is unlikely to have a cooling effect on the frog, however.) The singing frog has webbed hind- but not fore-feet; the tips of fingers and toes have truncated discs, the better for gripping wet stones. The skin on the back is grainy. Males are 3-4.5 cm long, females are bigger, at 4-8 cm. * Where to find them: In mountain streams bordered by woodland, from Honshu to Kyushu, ideally streams with plenty of fist-size stones. Singing frogs breed from May to June. Eggs have more chance of hatching if they remain in large clusters, so the female lays between 250-800 of them in parts of the stream sheltered from the current. * Food: Small invertebrates found in and by mountain streams, such as spiders, insects and insect larvae. Tadpoles eat algae and gradually transform into frogs by September. * Special features: Males are strongly territorial. They will select a small stone in the river, sit on it and sing until they attract a mate. For many males, this will be a long wait, and for some no female will ever turn up. This produces a skewed mating success among males: A relatively small number of males will father huge numbers of tadpoles, and most males will not father any offspring. Females choose between males by the quality of their song, and males will fight to climb onto a female's back. Females spend a long time selecting a suitable place to spawn, moving downriver, while males ride around on their backs. Fertilization takes place outside the female's body -- by riding on her back, males can fertilize her eggs as she lays them. Before and after mating, singing frogs live alone. In the winter they hibernate.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Feb 24, 2003
Burying beetle
* Japanese name: Yamatomon shidemushi * Scientific name: Nicrophorus japonicus * Description: Burying beetles are large insects, growing up to 20 mm long. They have large eyes, strong legs, powerful biting jaws and club-shaped antennae. These beetles are black, with distinctive orange markings on the elytra (wing cases). The clubbed ends of the antennae are also orange. * Where to find them: Wherever small mammals and birds may be found, in grasslands, woods, parks, gardens and farms. * Food: The flesh of small dead mammals, such as mice and moles, and dead birds. Soon after something dies and starts rotting, a burying beetle is likely to turn up. The first male and female to arrive at the site of the carcass dig away the soil underneath to bury it and fight other beetles to turn them away. If the carcass lies on unsuitable ground, the beetles will slowly drag it to a good place for burial. With their strong jaws, the beetles are able to cut through grassroots to dig a hole. The carcass is stripped of fur or feathers and coated in secretions to slow down bacterial decay. Sometimes a limb or two is amputated by the beetles, the better to fit the carcass, now called a brood ball, into the hole. * Special features: Burying beetles have an excellent sense of smell, which enables them to find carrion. The couple that bury the carcass mate, and the female lays her eggs in the hole made for the brood ball. Most insects lay their eggs and leave the larvae to their fate, but female burying beetles tend to their young, feeding them food regurgitated from the brood ball and protecting them from other insects. Such caring behavior is usually seen only in social insects, such as bees and ants. The larvae spend about eight days eating, then they pupate. After two weeks they emerge as adults.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Feb 11, 2003
Stick insect
* Japanese name: Nanafushi * Scientific name: Phraortes elongatus * Description: Stick insects belong to the order of insects called Phasmida, which derives from phasma, the Latin word for phantom. It's easy to identify a stick insect, but it is seeing it in the first place that is difficult, because stick insects so closely resemble sticks. The female is larger than the male. (See photo: The smaller insect is the male, who is copulating with the female). * Where to find them: On trees and bushes in woodlands and parks from Honshu to Kyushu. Stick insects can be seen from July to November. The stick insect species in the photo can most often be seen on oak trees. Sometimes shaking the branch of a tree is a good way to find them -- just watch for them falling. * Food: The leaves of oak trees. Stick insects do most of their feeding at night. Like all insects, they grow by molting their exoskeleton. Females molt six times before they are adults; males five times. * Special features: The superb camouflage of stick insects is their most impressive feature. Some species also look remarkably leaflike. When disturbed, stick insects may play dead for hours. They might also sway gently, like a stick or leaf blowing in the wind. Not all of them are passive, however: Some stick insects spray a chemical at their attacker, and some species can be cannibalistic if kept together. But nanafushi simply straightens its legs, increasing its resemblance to a stick. Reproduction is often done without males. Females lay fertile eggs without mating. The eggs fall to the ground and may not hatch for years. Stick insects have wings, but recent research has shown that they have re-evolved from winged ancestors that then lost their wings. This is an important scientific find; it proves that a complex trait such as wings can evolve once again even if it has been lost.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jan 27, 2003
Nutria
* Japanese name: Nutoria * Scientific name: Myocastor coypus * Description: The nutria, also called coypu, is a ratlike mammal with a long tail and broad, orange teeth. It has small eyes and ears, short legs and webbed hind feet that are much longer than the fore feet. The hind feet have five digits and the fourth is unwebbed; the fore feet have four long digits and a tiny thumb. The length of the triangular-shaped head and body is between 47.2 cm-57.5 cm, with the tail adding about 37.5 cm. Nutria weigh between 5 kg to 10 kg. The fur is of two types: soft, dense underfur (a gray color) and coarse top fur (yellowish- to reddish-brown). Females have four pairs of mammary glands on the sides of the body, not on the chest as in other mammals. * Where to find them: These rodents are native to South America, but after escaping from fur farms, they colonized most of the world, including Japan. Completely at home in water, they can be seen in wetland areas from Honshu to Kyushu. * Food: Freshwater vegetation. The nutria is a herbivore and will eat plant stems, leaves, roots and bark. It will also eat rice plants from paddies. * Special features: Nutria become sexually mature when only six months old and may live for six years; they have 1-13 babies per litter that are born fully furred. They usually breed three times a year. Their fast maturation and sometimes destructive feeding habits have led scientists to list the nutria as one of the world's 100 most dangerous alien species. Nutria dig burrows to live in, and these and their habit of eating plant roots can contribute to erosion, as well as destroy vegetation that other animals and birds depend on.
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