Japanese boar

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Japanese boar
S. s. leucomystax,
Tama zoo
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Suidae
Genus: Sus
Species:
S. scrofa
Subspecies:
S. s. leucomystax
Trinomial name
Sus scrofa leucomystax
Temminck, 1842
Synonyms[1]
Species synonymy
  • japonica (Nehring, 1885)
  • nipponicus (Heude, 1899)

The Japanese boar (Sus scrofa leucomystax), also known as the white-moustached pig,[2] nihon-inoshishi (ニホンイノシシ),[3] or yama kujira (山鯨, lit. "mountain whale"),[3] is a subspecies of wild boar native to all of Japan, apart for Hokkaido and the Ryukyu Islands.

Taxonomy

It is a small, almost maneless, yellowish-brown subspecies[4] with distinctive white whiskers extending from the corners of the mouth to the cheeks.[2]

Predators

In many areas of Japan, humans are the only predator for wild boars. The

wolves into the country to restore the ecological balance which would curb the ballooning populations of deer and boars.[5] However, there is strong public opposition to this plan.[5]

Presence following the Fukushima nuclear disaster

After the March 2011

hybrid vigor.[6] Over time, genes inherited from the domestic pigs will gradually disappear as hybrid pigs breed with the more numerous purebred wild boar.[6]

Culture

Japanese boar at Tama Zoo
Emperor Yūryaku hunts a wild boar

It features prominently in

Japanese culture, where it is widely seen as a fearsome and reckless animal, to the point that several words and expressions in Japanese referring to recklessness include references to boars. The boar is the last animal of the oriental zodiac, with people born during the year of the Pig
being said to embody the boar-like traits of determination and impetuosity.

Boars are also seen as symbols of fertility and prosperity. The animal's link to prosperity was illustrated by its inclusion on the

Meiji period, and it was once believed that a man could become wealthy by keeping a clump of boar hair in his wallet.[7]

It is a popular subject among netsuke sculptors, and is mentioned in Kojiki (711-712), the oldest extant Japanese chronicle. The boar also features in Japanese poetry, having first appeared in the works of Yamabe no Akahito.[3] Its importance in the Japanese diet was such that it was exempt from Emperor Tenmu's ban on meat-eating in 675.[8]

References

  1. OCLC 62265494
    .
  2. ^ a b von Siebold, P. F. (1842), Fauna japonica sive Descriptio animalium qu, in itinere per japoniam suspecto annis 1823-1830, Volume 1, Müller, pp. 57-58
  3. ^
    ISBN 1136183671
  4. ISBN 978-0-19-920704-6
  5. ^ a b c "Alex K.T. Martin – The Howl of Japan's Lost Wolves". Asia Art Tours. September 19, 2021. Archived from the original on July 23, 2022.
  6. ^ a b c d "Fukushima disaster: Tracking the wild boar 'takeover'". BBC. June 30, 2021. Archived from the original on July 15, 2022.
  7. ISBN 0199255180
  8. ISBN 978-1-136-60255-9
    .

External links
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