science

Wildlife of Japan

Wildlife of Japan is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Wildlife of Japan rather than just read about it. In short: The wildlife of Japan includes its flora, fauna, and natural habitats. The islands of Japan stretch a long distance from north to south and cover a wide range of climatic zones.

Key takeaways

Wildlife of Japan belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Wildlife of Japan to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Wildlife of Japan from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The wildlife of Japan includes its flora, fauna, and natural habitats. The islands of Japan stretch a long distance from north to south and cover a wide range of climatic zones. This results in a high diversity of wildlife despite Japan's isolation from the mainland of Asia. In the north of the country, north of Blakiston's Line, there are many subarctic species which have colonized Japan from the north. In the south there are south-east Asian species, typical of tropical regions. Between these areas lies the temperate zone which shares many species with China and Korea. Japan also has many endemic species that are found nowhere else in the world, making it home to many endangered/rare species.

Fauna

Mammals

About 130 species of land mammal occur in Japan. The largest of these are the two bears. The Ussuri brown bear (Ursus arctos), the largest land animal in Japan, is found in Hokkaidō, where it plays an important role in the culture of the Ainu people. The Asian black bear (Ursus thibetanus) inhabits mountainous areas in Honshū, Kyūshū and Shikoku. Smaller carnivores include the red fox (Vulpes vulpes), Japanese raccoon dog (Nyctereutes viverrinus) and Japanese marten (Martes melampus). There are two wild cats in Japan: the leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) of mainland Asia occurs on Tsushima Island while the Iriomote cat (Prionailurus iriomotensis) is unique to the island of Iriomote. Grazing mammals include the sika deer (Cervus nippon), Japanese serow (Capricornis crispus) and Japanese boar (Sus scrofa leucomystax). Among Japan's most famous mammals is the Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata), the world's most northerly monkey. Marine mammals include the sea otter (Enhydra lutris), dugong (Dugong dugon), finless porpoise (Neophocaena phocaenoides) and Steller's sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus). The extinct elephant Palaeoloxodon naumanni, giant deer Sinomegaceros yabei and cave lions (Panthera spelaea) also formerly inhabited the main islands of the archipelago. Two wolf subspecies found in Japan, the Hokkaido wolf (Canis lupus hattai) and Honshū wolf (Canis lupus hodophylax), went extinct in 1889 and 1905, respectively.

Birds

Over 600 species of bird have been recorded in Japan and more than 250 of these breed. A number of birds are endemic including the Japanese woodpecker (Picus awokera), copper pheasant (Syrmaticus soemmerringii) and Japan's national bird, the green pheasant (Phasianus versicolor). Several species are unique to the smaller islands including the Okinawa rail (Gallirallus okinawae), Izu thrush (Turdus celaenops) and Bonin white-eye (Apalopteron familiare ). Most of the non-endemic birds are shared with China but a few originate in Siberia or south-east Asia. Large numbers of birds migrate through Japan in spring and autumn including many waders. In winter, several sites are important for swans, geese and cranes.

Reptiles and amphibians Japan has about 73 species of reptile of which nearly half are endemic. Sea turtles and highly venomous but non-aggressive sea snakes including the black-banded sea krait occur in warmer waters around southern Japan. Venomous snakes include the mildly venomous tiger keelback, and the more venomous front fanged vipers are the elegant pit viper, Okinawa habu, Tokara habu, hime habu and the mamushi. Many pitviper species, known as habus throughout Japan are endemic to islands in the warmer Ryukyu Islands chain however the mamushi (Gloydius blomhoffii) is found on the main islands. Non-venomous rat snakes found in Japan are the endemic Japanese rat snake, Japanese forest rat snake, Japanese four-lined rat snake, and the king rat snake and beauty rat snake (subspecies Orthriophis taeniurus schmackeri) which in Japan are found only in the warm Ryukyu islands but have much wider distributions on mainland Asia. Three species of odd-scaled snakes are present in the southern islands including the Formosan odd-scaled snake, Japanese odd-scaled snake, and the Amami odd-scaled snake.

Lizards include many endemic skink species (especially in the southern islands), the viviparous lizard (found as far north as the island of Hokkaido), and the Okinawa tree lizard (Diploderma polygonatum). Freshwater turtles found in Japan include the endemic Japanese pond turtle, Ryukyu black-breasted leaf turtle. The Chinese box turtle is found only on the southernmost islands of Iriomote and Ishigaki in its Japanese range. At least two crocodilian species are known to have occurred in the recent geological past of Japan: the Chinese alligator and Toyotamaphimeia. There are over 40 amphibian species including the Japanese giant salamander (Andrias japonicus), one of the world's largest amphibians. The Asiatic salamander family (Hynobiidae) is particularly well represented; many members of the family are found only in Japan.

Fish Over 3,000 types of fish have been recorded in Japan. Important freshwater fish include the ayu (Plecoglossus altivelis), crucian carp (Carassius carassius) and common carp (Cyprinus carpio). The common carp is the ancestor of the well-known domestic koi carp. Small freshwater fish include the pale chub, Japanese chub (Nipponocypris sieboldii) and several species of bitterling including the endangered rosy bitterling. The southern Ryukyu Islands are home to endemic species of colorful freshwater gobies in the genus Stiphodon. Notable anadromous fish include six species of salmon represented by the Chinook salmon, chum salmon, pink salmon, coho salmon, sockeye salmon, and the cherry salmon (which has several unique freshwater morphs in Japan). Chars in the genus Salvelinus are represented by the white-spotted char (including several unique varieties such as the gogi char), Dolly Varden trout, and the endemic kirikuchi char. The Japanese taimen (Hucho perryi) is the largest fish to enter freshwater in Japan and may reach sizes of up to 2 meters in length. The Japanese taimen is a critically endangered species including the Japanese populations which are restricted to the rivers and surrounding ocean of Hokkaido. Also present is the Japanese dace (Tribolodon hakonensis). Important saltwater fish include the red sea bream (Pagrus major). Mudskippers are found in warmer areas while coral reefs in the Ryukyu Islands have many fish typical of tropical waters such as parrotfish and anemonefish. The little-known goblin shark (Mitsukurina owstoni) and frilled shark (Chlamydoselachus anguineus) have been recorded from deep waters off Japan.

Insects

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Wildlife of Japan

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Wildlife of Japan claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Wildlife of Japan before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Wildlife of Japan ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Wildlife of Japan

In research: Wildlife of Japan appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Wildlife of Japan in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Wildlife of Japan is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Biota of Japan, Natural history of Japan, Wildlife by country, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Wildlife of Japan outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Wildlife of Japan in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Wildlife of Japan means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Wildlife of Japan out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Wildlife of Japan in simple terms?

The wildlife of Japan includes its flora, fauna, and natural habitats. The islands of Japan stretch a long distance from north to south and cover a wide range of climatic zones.

Why does Wildlife of Japan matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Wildlife of Japan?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Wildlife of Japan.