Two wolves once prowled the mountains and forests of Japan. They were revered as deities, and respected as protectors of travelers and fields, until forces from outside the islands changed everything. Now, one wolf is gone for good, while the other, even though it’s likely extinct, is still being hunted.
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Sources:
Walker, B. L. (2009). The lost wolves of Japan. University of Washington Press.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20191011-the-hunt-for-japans-ghost-wolves
https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(20)31101-9?uuid=uuid%3Ae79d710d-128d-49cd-80e4-69c957914168
https://www.env.go.jp/earth/coop/coop/materials/08-ttmnce/08-ttmnce-21.pdf
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https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/10/science/thylacines-tasmanian-tigers-sightings.html
https://australianhumanitiesreview.org/2018/12/02/the-cultural-politics-of-mourning-in-the-era-of-mass-extinction-thylacine-specimen-p762/
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2019/09/13/environment/debate-japans-extinct-wolf-grows/
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https://japan-forward.com/reintroducing-wolves-a-new-hope-for-japanese-ecosystems/
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https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abh2419
https://ainu.ninjal.ac.jp/folklore/corpus/en/
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Images:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aPwnx80qbr3nGhaavnc83C3tYFNqQRJ9P12fh_nZzWc/edit?usp=sharing
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