Talk:List of mammals of Japan

Horses

Horses have lived in Japan since the time of the Dark Ages. See: http://heritageofjapan.wordpress.com/following-the-trail-of-tumuli/rebellion-in-kyushu-and-the-rise-of-royal-estates/in-the-news-ancient-horse-trappings-dug-up-at-burial-mound/when-did-horses-arrive-in-japan/

However, the article above states that the fossilized remains of horses have been found in Japan that date back at least 18,000 years -- back to the time of the latter Ice Ages when western Japan was connected by dry land to Korea, and also northern Honshu was connected to Hokkaido and thence to Sakhalein Island, and from there (where the ocean is not too deep even now) to the eastern mainland of Asia - that is a part of Russia now.

In any case, it seems that (small) wild horses were native to Japan w/o human intervention, and then thousands of years later, they were domesticated by people and they were bred to be larger. DNA evidence shows that most of the horses of Japan can be traced back to Korea, Russia, etc., and not to the small minority of horses that were brought (in ships) much later on, all the way from Europe, and possibly from Mexico, too (Spanish horses). Hence, most of the horses of Japan are Japanese, perhaps with some interbreeding with European horses that came much later on. Let's estimate that this probably began in about 1600 A.D., when Portuguese missionaries started coming to Japan.

Conclusion: Horses are a native species in Japan. This article did not even mention any odd-toed mammals in Japan, and horses, with one toe per foot, are odd-toed animals. I don't know anything about three-toes animals in Japan. Apparently from your list, there are two-toed deer and pigs native to Japan.
98.81.2.69 (talk) 22:56, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

Bears?

An unregistered editor has repeatedly removed the bears from the list without explanation. Those species do seem to live in Japan. Please explain why. Thank you. SchreiberBike | ⌨  04:45, 13 September 2019 (UTC)