Japanese Wolf | Canis lupus hodophilax | Tales Of Forgotten

Описание: The Japanese wolf (Canis lupus hodophilax) is an extinct subspecies of the gray wolf that was once endemic to Japan. It is also known as the Honshū wolf.
It was found in the islands of Honshū, Shikoku, and Kyūshū in the Japanese archipelago.
It was not found in Hokkaido Island. This indicates that its ancestor may have migrated from the Asian continent through the Korean Peninsula into Japan.
It was one of two subspecies that were once found in the Japanese archipelago, the other being the Hokkaidō wolf.
Genetic sequencing indicates that the Japanese wolf was highly divergent from living wolf populations.
The Japanese wolf was world's second smallest wolf after Arabian wolf (Canis lupus arabs).
Canis lupus hodophilax was much smaller than Eurasian wolf (Canis lupus lupus) and of shorter legs, with its coat smooth and short.
Honshu wolf was quite dog-like in appearance, and in some ways had characteristics that bore more resemblance to some other types of wild canids like jackals or coyotes.
Despite long being revered in Japan, the introduction of rabies and canine distemper to Japan led to the decimation of the population.
Moreover, the policies enacted during the Meiji Restoration led to the persecution and eventual total extermination of the subspecies by the early 20th century.
According to latest studies The Japanese wolf is estimated to have arrived in the southern islands of Japan less than 20,000 YBP.
In 2021, a genomic study found the Japanese wolf to descend from Pleistocene Siberian wolves and genetically distinct from living Eurasian wolves.
In 713, the wolf first appeared on record in Kofudoki itsubun. From 967, historical records indicated the wolf's preference for predating on horse.
In 1701, a lord introduced the first wolf bounty and by 1742 the first professional wolf hunters were using firearms and poison.
In 1736, rabies appeared among dogs in eastern Japan, indicating that it had entered from China or Korea, and then spread across the nation.
Shortly after it spread to the wolf population, turning some wolves from simple horse predators to man-killers that lead to organized wolf hunts.
Killing wolves became a national policy under the Meiji Restoration, and within one generation the Japanese wolf was extinct.
The last Japanese wolf was captured and killed at Washikaguchi of Higashiyoshino village in Honshu Nara Prefecture, Japan on January 23, 1905.
There are four mounted specimens believed to be Canis lupus hodophilax (3 located in Japan and one in Leiden, Netherlands.)
Sightings of "short-legged dog like beasts", proposed to be the Japanese wolf, have been claimed since the time of its extinction until the last claim in 1997, but none of these have been verified.
Well-documented observations of similar canids have been made throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, and have been suggested to be surviving wolves. However, due to environmental and behavioral factors, doubts persist over their identity.

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