In Search Of The Japanese Wolf

So his photos were, or were not photos of the Japanese wolf that he was looking for? If not, how many different types of wolves are out there? If yes, why's it still a mystery?
 
There were two types of wolf in Japan, both officaly extinct. This is the dwarf wolf. The creature in the photos does look very like a dwarf wolf.
 
So the animal has essentially been rediscovered then? Why isn't this all over the net, or am I just a late-comer?
 
Human_84 said:
So the animal has essentially been rediscovered then? Why isn't this all over the net, or am I just a late-comer?
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I doesn't become official until the scientists proclaim it so. They won't do that until they have physical evidence, so that nobody can prove them wrong in any way. Of course, science doesn't tell us what to think or believe or how to live our lives. It tells us only what can be shown to be true with scientific method. So if these pictures are evidence enough for you, then to your satisfaction they've been rediscovered. Perhaps that's all that's important.
 
This is an interesting one. Personally I don't find the photos persuasive, it's bad enough with thylacines, but with wolves misidentification of dogs makes a visual only identification almost impossible. I'm not saying that it is a dog, just that there's no way to be sure that it isn't.

Although I can't really see a pure blood population surviving unconfirmed for so long, it is possible that some of their genes may live on in feral dog populations. This is where it differs from the thylacine.

This is the dwarf wolf. The creature in the photos does look very like a dwarf wolf.

Have you got any photos of one? Excluding mounts all I can find are variations of this one
hondo-wolf2.jpg


And apparently it's not confirmed. I've seen it without the figures too, and to me they do seem a bit incongruous. So it might well be that this shot is of any old wolf with some Japanese lads stuck in there.
 
Just to add; the animal in the photos is a fairly close match for some of the Japanese dog breeds.

The coat as seen in the 1996 shots is, as I'm sure all will realise, misleading because the animal is soaking wet. Any animal with a dense pale undercoat but with a coloured overcoat will take on this pattern when wet enough. In reality you'd see a redish brown coat, with a light belly and facial patches and possibly lighter legs. Also there seems to be signs of some darker patches around the scruff and down along the spine into the tail.

Is there a decent description of their patternation anywhere?
 
http://www.washington.edu/uwpress/searc ... ALLOS.html

This is probobly the best source of information.

I've only seen photos of shot or stuffed ones. The description with the distinctive russet markings recalls the animal in the photo but you are right, dogs can look wolf like. A friend of mine who has travlled in Japan says that a freond of her Japanese friends owns a remote mountain house. He claims that both black bears and dwarf wolf have visted his garden.
 
I had a nasty feeling that there'd be a sparsity of reference material. Mounted or old skins can be more hindrance than anything else. Look at the re-animated mounts 99.9% of thylacine witnesses report.

Very interesting thanks for posting it.

On another matter I'm making some very slow progress regarding the 'Westbury tiger'. I've found the zoo anyway.
 
They would be small, with a distinctive non bushy tail.

Bit like, oh, about 90% of mutts.
 
Seems the Japanese wolf habitat once covered the entire country of Japan, but then dwindled away until 1905 (or thereafter). There are some districts/towns mentioned in the link from the original post. Should I take that to mean that this was the LAST KNOWN habitat range? Or just where he happened to go looking? Any pointers much appreciated.
 
I was hoping there'd be an audio clip to hear.
 
Interesting article on the 'Ghost Wolves' of Japan here:

Could an apex predator, thought to be extinct for 100 years, still be roaming the Japanese mountains? Some enthusiasts think they have the evidence.

By William Park and Johanna Airth18th October 2019

Hiroshi Yagi was driving through the Chichibu Tama Kai National Park when the animal came up from the stream on his left, passed in front of him and stopped about two metres (6.5ft) away from his car. It showed no fear as he edged towards it, firing off several photographs. The creature was apparently unfazed by the presence of a human. Either it was comfortable being around humans, or felt unthreatened because of its status as the apex predator in this habitat.

“This was 23 years ago, and I didn’t have much technical knowledge then,” says Yagi. “But I thought, ‘This must be a wolf’.”

Yagi, a keen mountaineer, spends a lot of time in the mountains around Chichibu in central Japan, but this was the first time he had come face to face with an animal he had spent the best part of his life searching for.

“I decided I would try and give him an osenbei (a rice cracker) and put out my hand and offered it to him,” says Yagi. “I am right-handed, so I offered the cracker to him in my left, thinking that even if he bit my left arm, I would be alright."

“He was right in front of me at this point. I had brought the rice cracker right under his mouth. But he didn’t take it. He just stood there. I tried to see if he smelled like a wild animal, but he didn’t. He had no smell. And just like a new-born baby, he had no knowledge or fear of danger.”

Continued at length:
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20191011-the-hunt-for-japans-ghost-wolves
 
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I'd really like to do a trip to Japan to investigate this. Parallels with the Tasmanian wolf speak for themselves.
 
Japan these days is suffering from a plague of deer.

Something is not eating them, though I suspect boars and boar account for fawns.

But the wolf was a dinky beast with a rat tail; were they ever deer hunters?
 
Certain dog breeds look like wolves already, so misidentifying isn't that big a deal.
 
Princess Mini-noke? That's a small wolf. I don't think even a midget could ride that thru a primeval forest.
 
This is a fascinating account of a heavily forested, large animal abundant land and its environmental problems.

But would Wolves get very fat, not to mention plentiful, in such an environment if they were present?
 
Kondoru said:
This is a fascinating account of a heavily forested, large animal abundant land and its environmental problems.

But would Wolves get very fat, not to mention plentiful, in such an environment if they were present?
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well question #1 must be: what are they eating?
 
Kondoru said:
This is a fascinating account of a heavily forested, large animal abundant land and its environmental problems.

But would Wolves get very fat, not to mention plentiful, in such an environment if they were present?
Click to expand...
Doubtful - I don’t think wild wolves get fat. They have to be fit to catch their prey.
 
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