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Castanopsis cuspidata; Japan; Sus scrofa; acorns; bamboos; body condition; crop damage; food composition; mammals; masting; stomach; wild boars
Abstract:
... We analyzed the stomach contents of wild boars (Sus scrofa) inhabiting evergreen forests in western Japan and found that they were dependent on the masting of acorns of Castanopsis cuspidata. The increased availability of C. cuspidata acorns positively affected their consumption by wild boars. In the good mast years, wild boars consumed C. cuspidata acorns from November to June of the following ye ...
Japan; Tursiops aduncus; Tursiops truncatus; body length; bycatch; dolphins; females; haplotypes; males; microsatellite repeats; mitochondrial DNA
Abstract:
... Hybrid cetaceans occur in both captive and natural environments. This study is the first to describe the external morphological and genetic characterizations of natural intrageneric hybridization between the common bottlenose dolphin, Tursiops truncatus, and the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin, T. aduncus, in Japanese waters. In November 2019, a stray dolphin was seen in Moriura Bay, Wakayama, Jap ...
... The taxonomy and phylogeny of the subgenus Mus, the Eurasian lineage of the genus Mus, remain unresolved, even for the house mouse (Mus musculus). While the subgenus is diverse in Asia, few studies cover both its morphology and molecular phylogeny. We re-examined 70 specimens identified as M. cervicolor that were collected from central Nepal in 1968 and 1975 and are currently deposited in the Hokk ...
... Benten-Jima Rock, located off Cape Soya, Hokkaido, has been a Steller sea lion (SSL; Eumetopias jubatus) winter haulout for decades. The animals usually occupy the site from October to May. Observations have been sporadic, although the population count started to increase in 2005. We have monitored SSL numbers since 2012 using several survey methods, such as observation by direct counting and remo ...
... Specimen number OMNH-QV 4815, including the skull, mandibles, fused basihyal and thyrohyal, vertebrae, ribs, and scapula from the Namba Formation (Holocene), in Osaka City, Japan is identified as Balaenoptera physalus by having the thick anteriorly projected and laterally narrower basihyal and thyrohyal complex, and slender mandibles with laterally tilted coronoid processes. OMNH-QV 4815 is the se ...
Eumetopias jubatus; Japan; coasts; continental shelf; mammals; seasonal variation; spring; statistical analysis; Sea of Japan
Abstract:
... Aerial surveys were conducted to estimate the abundance of wintering populations of Steller sea lions (SSLs; Eumetopias jubatus) in the Sea of Japan originated from Russian waters using the line transect sampling method during spring from 2005 to 2019. The survey areas covered the continental shelf off the western coast of Hokkaido. A total of 28 196 km survey effort was made through the study per ...
... Several statistical models have recently been developed to estimate animal density using camera trappings without individual animal recognition. However, most models assume that detection by camera traps of animals passing a specific area of the camera view is perfect. A recently developed REST model (Nakashima et al. 2018; Journal of Applied Ecology 55: 735–744) also depends on the trapping rates ...
... Age-specific changes in deer demographic parameters under food limitation are an important factor in predicting the post-population-crash dynamics of irruptive deer populations. To evaluate the differences in age-class-at-death between the initial irruption and post-population-crash phases of a sika deer (Cervus nippon) population, we analyzed a dataset of naturally dead carcasses from an introduc ...
... In a heavy snowfall area in northeastern Japan, we clarified the diel activity patterns of and seasonal differences in three sympatric carnivores (red foxes, raccoon dogs, and Japanese martens) during winter and spring, and the interspecific differences among the activity patterns in each season. The activity time of the target species was obtained by camera-trap surveys at seven sites around the ...
Japan; Loliginidae; Ommastrephidae; Stenella coeruleoalba; chi-square distribution; diet; females; males; muscles; prey species; stomach; East China Sea
Abstract:
... Striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) mass-stranded on 26 April 2013 at Minamisatsuma, Kagoshima Prefecture, in southern Japan (East China Sea). The diet of the mass-stranded striped dolphins was investigated to reveal their foraging pattern through analyses of the stomach contents and stable isotopes in muscle. Of 26 stomachs sampled, 25 contained hard parts of prey animals; no fleshy remains ...
... We studied home range use of crop-raiding Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) in Shiga Prefecture, central Japan, to address the effects of vegetation structure, specifically forest edge, on their habitat utilization. We compared the home range use of a troop inhabiting a rural area surrounded by a coniferous plantation with that of a troop inhabiting deciduous/coniferous forest mixed area. We then ...
... It's not always possible to obtain samples from dead male pinnipeds that are fresh enough to determine the histological characteristics of spermatogenesis and their stage of sexual maturity. We propose that the morphometrics of genital organs of northern fur seals, Callorhinus ursinus, can be used as a new indicator of sexual maturity. We analyzed data from collected records of male fur seals arou ...
... Nucleotide sequences of the mitochondrial D-loop region were examined in three wild rodents (Apodemus argenteus, Apodemus speciosus, and Myodes smithii) on the northern slope of Mt. Fuji, the highest mountain in Japan, to elucidate the past evolutionary and present anthropogenic processes shaping their genetic diversity. Nucleotide diversity, median-joining network, and mismatch distribution analy ...
Japan; Ursus thibetanus; hibernation; life history; mammals; process control
Abstract:
... Hibernation (denning) is an important aspect of the life history of Asian black bears (Ursus thibetanus), and denning chronology can be influenced by biotic and abiotic factors. We investigated activity patterns during the pre-denning period of Asian black bears using statistical process control in combination with activity sensors to quantitatively identify a marked reduction in activity from 200 ...
... Native sika deer (Cervus nippon) had not been observed in and around Sasebo City, Nagasaki Prefecture, Kyushu, Japan. However, deer have recently been confirmed in this area, and the number of individuals and the range have been expanding, causing damage to forestry and natural vegetation. Although the origin of these deer is unknown, it may be derived from Formosan sika deer (C. n. taiouanus), wh ...
... Japanese macaques and alien macaques have hybridized in the Boso Peninsula, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. In this study, the origin of the alien species was investigated by molecular assessments with mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y-chromosome genes. Maternal origin was assessed by comparing mtDNA sequence records. The results suggested that the alien species in the southern part of peninsula originated ...
Japan; Macaca fuscata; conflict management; mammals; people
Abstract:
... The populations of the Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata), which were vulnerable until the early 20th century, have recently recovered. However, this recovery process has rarely been hailed as a conservation success, because it has triggered serious conflicts between people and the macaques. The key exacerbating causes of the conflicts have been the drastic changes in the interrelations between the ...
... In this study, we examined a genetic variation of killer whales, Orcinus orca, from off the coast of Hokkaido, Japan, by sequencing the D-loop and cytochrome b (Cyt-b) regions of the mitochondrial genome. Three D-loop and two Cyt-b haplotypes were identified from eight skin biopsies. These five haplotypes had been previously deposited at GenBank and the International Nucleotide Sequence Database C ...
... The generic name of the humpback whale, Megaptera was named after their forelimb, which means a “large wing”. New whale remains (specimen number: OMNH-QV 60) including the right scapula, humerus, and radius from the Namba Formation, Holocene in Osaka, Japan is reported as a humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae based on diagnoses of the species; having reduced acromion and coracoid processes of t ...
Japan; Macaca fuscata; case studies; conflict management; crop damage; decision making; human population; mammals; questionnaires; spatial data; statistics; urban agriculture
Abstract:
... A decrease in the amount of crop damage by Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) is often defined as the primary official goal for conflict resolution. Recent government-led countermeasures have resulted in a decline in the amount of such damage, at least per the government statistics; however, residents rarely recognize this decline as a success of conflict management. We hypothesized that this unex ...