Tag - animals

 
Menu
Search
 
April 26, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

ANIMALS

Deer that are kept in a fenced-off area in the city of Nara
JAPAN
Apr 9, 2024
Nara Prefecture to expand area for culling iconic deer
The prefectural panel will discuss culling methods and other details to draw up a new protection program in fiscal 2025.
Prince Hisahito (center) holds a hornet's nest in the insect science laboratory of Tamagawa University in the Tokyo city of Machida on Saturday, as Crown Price Akishino (right) observes.
JAPAN
Apr 7, 2024
Prince Hisahito visits Tamagawa University
Prince Hisahito visited Tamagawa University in the city of Machida in Tokyo with his father, Crown Prince Akishino.
A helmet jellyfish recorded at depth in the Lurefjord, Norway. The creatures experience acute physical effects from short-term exposure to suspended sediment, which could be caused by deep-sea mining.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife / OUR PLANET
Apr 7, 2024
The weird deep-sea world, and how mining threatens it
Demand for metals such as lithium and nickel has driven a rush to take a stake in the seabed, with Japan being a major advocate of deep-sea mining.
A chicken in its coop on Fogline Farm in Pescadero, California, on March 1. Unlike the coronavirus, the H5N1 virus has been studied for years. Vaccines and treatments are available should they ever become necessary.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 6, 2024
Is bird flu coming to people next? Are we ready?
Outbreaks have been found among dairy cows in multiple states, as well as at least one infection in a farmworker in Texas.
If it's too hot to do much (and the costs for air conditioning continue to surge) during the day, it might be time to consider shifting the bulk of our activities to cooler nighttime hours.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Apr 6, 2024
A solution for scorching days: Do everything at night.
Working night shifts, however, comes with a host of health problems, increasing the risk of diabetes, heart disease and even cancer.
Dogs are long-lived enough to serve as better models for human aging than mice, but short-lived enough that aging treatments can be tested in just a few years.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 5, 2024
Your dog will have an anti-aging drug before you do
Dogs are long-lived enough to serve as better models for human aging than mice, but short-lived enough that aging treatments can be tested in a few years.
H5N1 has been discovered in dairy cows in the U.S. states of Texas, Kansas, New Mexico, Michigan and Idaho.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 4, 2024
What to know about bird flu in dairy cows and the risk to humans
Health officials and scientists say the risk to humans remains low, but many questions remain.
Tan Tan was supposed to be sent back to China in 2020, but her return was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 1, 2024
Japan’s oldest panda, Tan Tan, dies at 28
The giant panda leased from China lived in Kobe Oji Zoo for 24 years as a symbol of recovery from the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake.
Wildlife researcher Amelia Hiorns says Japan's bears feel the pressure of human presence and have learned that encountering us is not worth their time.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Mar 30, 2024
Amelia Hiorns: 'Guiding and introducing people to Japan's nature has been rewarding'
Wildlife researcher Amelia Hiorns shares how separate interests in Japan and in bears culminated in conservation work in the mountains of Nagano.
An analysis of all the publicly available viral genome sequences yielded a surprising result: humans give more viruses — about twice as many — to animals than they give to us.
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 27, 2024
Humans give more viruses to animals than they give us, study finds
Researchers looked at nearly 12 million virus genomes and detected almost 3,000 instances of viruses jumping from one species to another.
A new brain wave study published Friday suggests that hearing the names of their favorite toys actually activates dogs' memories of those objects.
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 23, 2024
'Good boy!' Dogs do understand us, says new study
A new study published suggests that hearing the names of their favorite toys actually activates dogs' memories of those objects.
A cow is prepared for slaughter at a facility in Corbas, France.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2024
Does religious freedom trump animal welfare?
The European Court of Human Rights found that protecting the welfare of animals is part of the legitimate government objective of protecting public morals.
Scientists on Wednesday identified what might be the genetic mechanism behind humankind's tailless condition — a mutation in a gene instrumental in embryonic development.
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 3, 2024
People with tails? No, because of this ancient genetic mutation
The absence of a tail may have better balanced the body for orthograde — upright — locomotion and eventually bipedalism, said one scientist.
Director of the Akan International Crane Center, Miyuki Kawase, says tourism is incredibly helpful for the birds, but the people who come to take pictures of the birds have to remember they are still wild animals.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Feb 24, 2024
Miyuki Kawase: ‘Experience, whether happy, sad or painful, makes you grow’
The director of the Akan International Crane Center in Hokkaido tells us how she found herself in a career centered around the symbolic white birds.
Specimen M831 stored at the National Museum of Nature and Science’s Tsukuba Research Departments in Ibaraki Prefecture
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife / OUR PLANET
Feb 22, 2024
How a 13-year-old discovered a possible Japanese wolf specimen
A new paper by Hinako Komori and two academics says a specimen she found could be one of two Japanese wolves kept at Ueno Zoo in the late 19th century.
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2024
Whale found dead in Osaka Bay to be buried on prefectural land
After being buried for up to two years, the skeletal remains will be offered as a specimen to the Osaka Museum of Natural History.
Giant African snails are unpopular among local residents and are referred to as an alien species that shouldn’t be touched, as they damage crops and sometimes hosts rat lungworms.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 19, 2024
Giant African snails mark 90 years of history in Okinawa
The snails, one of the world’s largest of the kind, are native to East Africa, and their shells can grow to as high as 20 centimeters.
A Banei Keiba horse race takes place at the Obihiro racecourse in Hokkaido on Dec. 9. The unpredictable stop-and-start drama of the world's slowest horse race has drawn new fans.
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2024
'Suspense' of slowest horse race wins new fans in Japan
At the Banei Keiba races in Hokkaido, spectators cheer on workhorses moving at the pace of a brisk human walk.
Inspections by authorities found that puppies and kittens have been traded at younger ages than permitted by law, apparently because younger animals sell better.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 16, 2024
Birth date falsifications suspected for puppies auctioned in Japan
The Environment Ministry believes breeders altered dates of birth in order to put puppies and kittens up for auction even though they were too young.
Naoko Motooka began hunting 10 years ago. Her hobby is one way Hokkaido hopes to curb a current boom in the deer population.
PODCAST / deep dive
Feb 15, 2024
Hunting in Hokkaido; Taylor Swift comes to Tokyo
You probably don’t think of guns when you think of Japan, but Hokkaido’s hunters do.
Naked man’s rampage in Saitama linked to one fatality and 10 injured
Police believe Daisuke Nishimura may have been involved in roughly 20 incidents in the 90 minutes leading up to his arrest, including a fatal hit-and-run and multiple assaults.
Japan set to fine cyclists on the spot for rule violations from 2026
Under new rules, those who use smartphones while riding a bicycle would be subject to the maximum fine of ¥12,000.
Japan brings forward deadline for electronic travel authorization system
Japan is planning to implement by March 2029 a new online screening system in which foreign visitors who don’t need a visa apply for a certification before entering the country.
Built in a flash, Osaka Expo pavilions wrestle with sustainability
Kengo Kuma & Associates oversaw the construction of the Malaysia pavilion, which is encased in interwoven rows of bamboo that appear to ripple.
Social media helps fuel growing 'sex tourism' in Japan
People walk down a street in the red-light entertainment area of Kabukicho in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo on March 31.
Amid uncertain tariffs, is now the time to buy a new iPhone?
An Apple store in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward in September. Prices for the newest iPhone models start at around ¥100,000 ($700) in Japan.
Built in a flash, Osaka Expo pavilions wrestle with sustainability
Kengo Kuma & Associates oversaw the construction of the Malaysia pavilion, which is encased in interwoven rows of bamboo that appear to ripple.
Japan weighs using U.S. rice imports as tariff negotiation tool with Trump
A restaurant owner pours California-grown Calrose rice into a rice cooker at his restaurant in Tokyo
Is Japan’s parliament ready to welcome more youth to its ranks?
Lower House lawmaker Kai Odake in his Tokyo office on Wednesday
Crow meat, goat tartare: Mauvaise Herbe raises its game
Crow meat, shaped into a ball and attached to a foot of the bird, is one of the peculiar offerings of game at Mauvaise Herbe.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.
By Tomoko Otake

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after
Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER