Japanese serow
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The Template:Nihongo (Capricornis crispus)Template:Efn (羚羊) is a Japanese goat-antelope, an even-toed ungulate. It is found in dense woodland in Japan, primarily in northern and central Honshu. The serow is seen as a national symbol of Japan, and is subject to protection in conservation areas.
Adult Japanese serow stand about Template:Convert tall and weigh Template:Convert. They are black to whitish, and colouring lightens in summer. The fur is very bushy, especially the tail. Both sexes have short, backwards-curving horns, and are difficult to distinguish by sight. Japanese serow are found in dense mountain forests where they eat leaves, shoots, and acorns. They are diurnal and feed in early mornings and late afternoons. Serows are solitary, or gather in couples or small family groups. The animal marks its territory with sweet-and-sour-smelling preorbital gland secretions, and males and females have separate territories that may overlap.
In the mid-20th century, the Japanese serow was hunted to near-extinction. In 1955, the Japanese government passed a law designating it a "Special National Monument" to protect it from poachers. Populations have since grown so greatly that the IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals ranks it "least concern". Complaints from foresters and farmers led in 1979 to the 1955 law's repeal. Since then, the serow has had protected status in 13 designated protected areas over 23 prefectures, and has been subject to culling as a pest outside conservation areas. Conservationists have labelled it a "living national treasure of the forest".
TaxonomyEdit
Taxonomically Coenraad Jacob Temminck first described the Japanese serow in 1836,Template:Sfnm and named it Antilope crispa. John Edward Gray gave it its current name in 1846.Template:Efn Pierre Marie Heude proposed many new genera and species in a system published in 1898; Capricornis became Capricornulus, which included crispus, pryerianus, and saxicola. The system did not find acceptance.Template:Sfn
There is no fossil record of the Japanese serow; its evolutionary history and the closeness of its relation to the Taiwan serow (Capricornis swinhoei) are speculative.Template:Sfn Its taxonomic position has led to it being called a "living fossil".Template:Sfn Karyotype studies indicate it was the earliest species to split from the common Capricornis ancestor.Template:Sfn The closest relative to the Japanese serow is the Taiwan serow (Capricornis swinhoei). Genetically, there is little difference between Japanese and Taiwan serows; their karyotype is essentially the same: 2n=50, FN=60.Template:Sfn The Taiwan serow is smaller and shorter-haired, with browner fur and a white patch under the chin and throat.Template:Sfn
Phylogenetically, Capricornis is closer to goats and sheep than cattle.Template:Sfn The nomenclature and status of Capricornis taxa are not completely resolved.Template:Sfn Some researchers have considered Capricornis a junior synonym of Naemorhedus,Template:Sfn a classification that includes gorals;Template:Sfn molecular analysis has not supported this classification.Template:Sfn Capricornis has a lower canine, which Naemorhedus species usually do not.Template:Sfn
In Japan, the serow is widely thought of as a kind of deer, though deer and serows are in different families. In the past, the Japanese word Template:TransliterationTemplate:Efn was written using the Chinese character for Template:Transliteration, meaning "deer".Template:Efn Today, when written using Chinese characters, the characters for "antelope" and "sheep"Template:Efn are used. Sometimes the serow is mistaken for a wild boar.Template:Sfn
Appearance and anatomyEdit
The Japanese serowTemplate:Sfn is a small bovidTemplate:Sfn whose displayed morphology is primitive in relation to other bovids. It has a stocky body whose size varies little between sexes or geographic location; it stands about Template:Convert tall (Template:Convert at the shoulder)Template:Sfn and weighs Template:Convert.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Sfn The hoof is cloven.Template:Sfn Compared to mainland serow, the ears are shorter and the coat is typically longer and woollier—about Template:Convert on the body. It has a bushy tailTemplate:Sfn of Template:ConvertTemplate:Sfn and no mane.Template:Sfn
Its fur is whitish around the neck,Template:Sfn and fur on the body may be black, black with a dorsal white spot, dark brown, or whitish.Template:Sfn The coat lightens in summer.Template:Sfn There are three well-developed skin glands:Template:Sfn large preorbital glands in both sexes, which increase in size as the animal ages;Template:Sfn poorly developedTemplate:Sfn interdigital glands in all four legs;Template:Sfn and preputial glands.Template:Sfn The adult's 32 permanent teeth form by 30 months, and have a dental formula of Template:DentalFormula.Template:Sfn The inner sides of the teeth become blackened with a hard-to-remove substance, likely tree resin.Template:Sfn The tongue has a V-shaped apex.Template:Sfn
Differentiation between the sexes is not well developed;Template:Sfn body size, growth, survival, and feeding habits show negligible difference.Template:Sfn Both sexes have short,Template:Sfn backwards-curving horns measuring Template:Convert;Template:Efn the sheaths have a series of transverse rings. Horns begin to develop at about four monthsTemplate:Sfn and continue to grow throughout the lifespan.Template:Sfn
Environment affects the size of the first growth ring. Size, curvature, and thickness and number of transverse rings are indicative of age. Up to two years, there are thicker transverse rings, of greater length and flexion than in adults. Into adulthood, thinner horn rings force the thick transverse rings upward. Growth increment slows earlier in maturation in females than in males.Template:Sfn Researchers use genitalia and sexual behaviour to distinguish the sexes.Template:Sfn Females have two pairs of mammae.Template:Sfn
Hearing is sensitiveTemplate:Sfn and eyesight is strong—the serow is able to detect and react to movement from a distance, and it can see well in low lighting. Sense of smell is also strong, and the serow can be observed raising its head and sniffing the air around it.Template:Sfn
Distribution, ecology, and behaviourEdit
Capricornis crispus is the only wild bovine ruminant in Japan,Template:Sfn and is endemic to three of the four main islands of Japan:Template:Sfn primarily northern and central Honshu, and small areas in Shikoku and Kyushu.Template:Sfn It can tolerate colder, snowier climates better than mainland serows.Template:Sfn The animal is found solitary, in pairs, or in small family groupsTemplate:Sfn in open grassland and forests at an elevation of about Template:Convert,Template:Sfn and uses caves to rest in.Template:Sfn It prefers temperate deciduous forest, but also lives in broad-leaved or subalpine coniferous forestTemplate:Sfn made up of Japanese beech, Japanese oak,Template:Sfn alpine meadow, and coniferous plantations.Template:Sfn Population density is low, at an average of Template:Convert,Template:Sfn and no greater than Template:Convert.Template:Sfn
C. crispus is philopatricTemplate:Sfn and territorial,Template:Sfn and marks trees with sweet-sour-smelling preorbital gland secretions to indicate its territory.Template:Sfn Males and females establish separate, overlapping ranges, typically Template:Convert,Template:Sfn but the male's is typically larger than the female's.Template:Sfn Aggression is rare, but the serow may react with hostility to territorial breaches.Template:Sfn Due to the extinction of its once-primary predator, the Japanese wolf, the Japanese black bear is its only predator. It flees with a whistling snort when it detects danger.Template:Sfn It is an agile, sure-footed mountain dweller that is able to sprint up mountains and to jump from cliff to cliff to safety; hunters have likened this display of agility to the ninja.Template:Sfn
The diurnalTemplate:Sfn Japanese serow is a browserTemplate:Sfn that feeds in early morning and late afternoon, primarily on fleshy or coniferous leaves, plant shoots, and acorns.Template:Sfn It feeds on alder, sedge, Japanese witch-hazel (Hamamelis japonica), and Japanese cedar.Template:Sfn It adjusts its diet to what food is locally available,Template:Sfn and, as a ruminant, the serow has a four-chambered stomach.Template:Sfn Studies indicate that even severe winters have a negligible impact on the serow's food intake, suggesting that, given its solitary social structure, it selects its territory to ensure sufficient food supply.Template:Sfn Defecation occurs in set locations.Template:Sfn
Life expectancies may be up to 20–25 years.Template:EfnTemplate:Sfnm Parapoxvirus is common, though rarely fatal; infection causes papular and nodular lesions.Template:Sfn There have been epidemics of contagious pustular dermatitis.Template:Sfn Bacteria such as E. coli and Lyme borreliosis are common,Template:Sfn and Toxoplasma gondii has been reported.Template:Sfnm C. crispus is susceptible to numerous parasites, such as the nematode Trichuris discolor and the lungworm Protostrongylus shiozawai.Template:Sfn
ReproductionEdit
Capricornis crispus is socially monogamous.Template:EfnTemplate:Sfn Females reach sexual maturity at 30 months.Template:Sfn First breeding takes place at age 2.5–3 years; breeding occurs once a year,Template:Sfn between September and January.Template:Sfn In a courtship ritual resembling that of goats or gazelles, the male Japanese serow licks the female's mouth, strikes her on the hindlegs with his forelegs, and rubs her genitalia with his horns.Template:Sfn Both sexes display Flehmen responses.Template:Sfn
Birth takes place between June and AugustTemplate:Sfn after a gestation period of about 210–220 days.Template:Sfn It takes about half an hour, and the female walks about during the birth. The single fawn is Template:Convert tall and reaches adult height in a year.Template:Sfn The fawn stays with its mother for 1–2 years. It then moves gradually from its mother's range until it establishes its own.Template:Sfn Young that do not disperse on their own may be chased away by the mother.Template:Sfn
- C. crispus in its natural habitat
- Nohonkamoshika3.JPG
Three sure-footed C. crispus on a snowy incline
- Nihonkamoshika2.JPG
C. crispus mother and child
- Capricornis crispus in Mount Sanpoiwa.JPG
A C. crispus on Mount Sanpōiwa in the Ryōhaku Mountains
Relationship with humansEdit
The earliest record of human contact with the serow is of a small number of prehistoric Jōmon period bones unearthed by archaeologists, primarily in mountainous regions. It is speculated the serow was hunted for its hide and for food.Template:Sfn What is believed to be the earliest written record appears in the Template:Transliteration (720): the Emperor Tenmu (r. 672–686) sent the hides of a Template:Transliteration to senior statesmen; this Template:Transliteration likely refers to the serow, and recurs elsewhere in the Nihon Shoki.Template:Sfn
The 8th-century Template:Transliteration contains a waka poem by Kakinomoto no Hitomaro that mentions a group of shishi; a number of writers have concluded this animal is the serow, but others have pointed out the serow is normally solitary.Template:Sfn Heian period (794–1185) documents record gifts of serow horns brought to the capital. Japan's earliest extant medical work, the Template:Interlanguage link (808), appears to record the use of serow horn and flesh for medicinal purposes.Template:Sfn
For centuries following the Heian period, mention of the serow becomes scarce. There is some belief that it was still hunted for medicinal use. The Edo period (1603–1868) saw records increase. The Template:Transliteration encyclopaedia of 1712 contains an illustrated entry on the serow. Template:Interlanguage link came into effect, but exceptions were made where animals damaged crops.Template:Sfn Following the Meiji Restoration in 1868, realistic depictions appeared of the serow, beginning with one in Keisuke Ito's Fauna Japonica (1870).Template:Sfn
Hunting and conservationEdit
The serow has long been hunted in Japan, especially in northern Japan where, along with bear-hunting, serow-hunting was strongly associated with matagi culture. Throughout Japan's mountainous regions, the serow has been a valued catch. Its various body parts are used without waste. Prized in particular is its meat—until the mid-20th century, serow meat was so widely eaten in these regions the animal itself was known as "meat".Template:Efn Its waterproof hides were used for rafters' backflaps, its horns were ground as a preventive against diseases such as beriberi, and a cure for stomach-aches was made from the serow's small intestines and gall bladder.Template:Sfn
An animal that once inhabited deep forests far from populated areas, the Japanese serow has increasingly penetrated the outskirts of villages.Template:Sfn In western Honshū, it had become extinct by the 20th century.Template:Sfn Elsewhere, it had been hunted to such a severe degree that the Japanese government declared it a "Non-Game Species" in a 1925 hunting law. In 1934, the Law for Protection of Cultural Properties designated it a "Natural Monument Species".Template:EfnTemplate:Sfn
Poaching continued, leading the government to declare the Japanese serow a "Special Natural Monument" in 1955,Template:EfnTemplate:Sfn at which point overhunting had brought its numbers to 2000–3000.Template:Sfn Populations grew as the police put an end to poaching, and post-War monoculture conifer plantations created favourable environments for the animal. By the 1980s, population estimates had grown to up to 100,000 and serow range had reached Template:Convert.Template:Sfn Between 1978 and 2003, its distribution increased 170%, and the population had stabilized.Template:Sfn
Conflicts with agriculture and forestry led to a 1978 repeal of the full protection the animal received under the 1955 designation. Thenceforth, 13Template:Efn designated protection areas were established over 23 prefectures.Template:Sfn They cover about 20% of the serow range, have a total area of Template:Convert, and range in size from Template:Convert to Template:Convert. Culling removed 20,000 serows outside of conservation areas between 1978 and 2005.Template:Sfn
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals ranked the Japanese serow as "least concern" in 2008, as it has wide distribution in Japan, and a large, stable or increasing population.Template:Sfn The Template:Interlanguage linkTemplate:Efn and Template:Interlanguage linkTemplate:Efn provide for the legal management of the Japanese serow. In 1979, the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Environmental Agency, and Forestry Agency reached an agreement on serow management measures, such as the establishment of protection areas and culling as pest control. The measures were met with resistance from conservationists, naturalist organizations, and some biologists, as the animal had previously been fully protected. A 1999 amendment to the Wildlife Protection and Hunting Law allowed prefectures to manage wildlife populations; by 2007, seven plans had been established for serow management outside of conservation areas.Template:Sfn
Foresters have raised concerns that the rising serow populations have interfered with post-War mountainside reforestation efforts, as the animal feeds on the saplingsTemplate:Sfn of Japanese cypress, Japanese cedar, and Japanese red pine, species with commercial significance.Template:Sfn Serow have caused damage to farm crops in mountain villages,Template:Sfn and the villagers have objected to conservationists' efforts. Damage by serows to forests has been characterized in parts of Japan in criminal or martial terms: the media have referred to the problems as Template:Transliteration ("the war between humans and deer") and Template:Transliteration ("serow war").Template:Sfn
Frustration with the government and conservationists led 400 foresters to launch a lawsuit in the 1980s over serow damage to timber plantations.Template:Sfn Foresters in Gifu Prefecture have justified the shooting of serows in the legs, as such shooting would not be fatal.Template:Sfn Estimating accurate population numbers has been difficult.Template:Sfn Foresters see the serow as a harmful animal, and resent government interference in controlling serow-hunting.Template:Sfn They have accused the government and wildlife experts of undercounting serows, while conservationists have counteraccused that foresters may inflate population numbers and levels of forestry damage to promote their own interests.Template:Sfn
Conservationists such as Shin Gotō believe that the increased visibility is due not to an absolute increase in populations, but to deforestation which has driven the animal further from its traditional home.Template:Sfn Serows close to populated areas may feed on farms and cypress, including saplings.Template:Sfn
Clearcutting practices may also contribute to the problem, as clearcut forests create areas of rapid herbaceous growth ideal for herbivores, who see population increases. The situation is temporary, though, and after regrowth of trees leads to the forest canopy closing over after 15–20 years, the herbivore populations are displaced as the herbaceous growth ceases to flourish.Template:Sfn
In the 1990s, as the number of young plantations decreased, so did forestry damage from serows. Concern instead turned to damage caused by sika deer, wild boars, and Japanese macaques. In Kyushu in particular, increased grazing and browsing competition from sika deer may be slowing growth of serow populations.Template:Sfn
Conservation areasEdit
Cultural significanceEdit
Labelled a "living national treasure of the forest",Template:Efn the Japanese serow has achieved emblematic status in Japan with national associations. It is seen as a relic species harking back to the formation of the Japanese archipelago as distinct from mainland Asia. In a symbolic gesture in 1973, the Chinese government gifted Japan a giant panda, to which the Japanese government returned two Japanese serow. Municipalities and other regions of Japan have adopted the serow as a local symbol.Template:Sfn
In Japan, the Japanese serow is most commonly known as Template:Transliteration or Template:Transliteration. It has historically been given a variety of names, often based on its appearance, some of which translate as "mountain sheep", "wool deer", "nine tail cow", and "cow demon". Regional names abound, some of which translate as "dancing beast", "foolish beast", or "idiot". Japanese people often characterize the serow as "weird" or "abnormal", and it is seen as a "phantom animal" as it tends to live alone in the depths of distant forests, and appears to observe forest workers from areas high in the mountains.Template:Sfn
The serow has a reputation in Japan for its speed and agility. Superior athletes are compared to the serow, as it is known not only for its agility, but also its sprinting ability. The Yamaha Motor Company has marketed the XT 225 sport motorcycle as the Yamaha Serow. In Japanese, the word Template:Transliteration means both "to fail an exam" and "to fall"; as the serow is known for its sure-footedness on mountain cliffs, students can buy Template:Transliteration charms marked with a serow hoofprint in the hope it will help them pass exams.Template:Sfn
See alsoEdit
- List of Special Places of Scenic Beauty, Special Historic Sites and Special Natural Monuments
- History of the domestic sheep
NotesEdit
ReferencesEdit
CitationsEdit
Works citedEdit
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WebEdit
External linksEdit
- Images at Flavon's Wild herb and Alpine plants
- Japanese serow at Ultimate Ungulate
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