Japan wildlife boost

Abstract

A new centre and wider project funded by Kyoto University raises the country's profile in conservation research and its long-standing work with the world's primates. Nigel Williams reports. A new centre and wider project funded by Kyoto University raises the country's profile in conservation research and its long-standing work with the world's primates. Nigel Williams reports. Japanese primate researchers have always had an advantage: the world's most northerly species lives in their backyard. For 60 years researchers based at Kyoto University have studied their native Japanese macaques on the island of Koshima. The work was begun by Kinji Imanishi and distinguished students have kept Kyoto at the forefront of primate research. The university's primate research centre has been a key international institute. The researchers carried out studies on the dominance system of the macaques, along with their matrilinear society, vocal communication and proto-culture, including the washing of sweet potatoes, an activity still carried out by monkeys today, several generations after the initial observation. In fact, the researchers now have records from eight generations of these macaques. Ten years after work began on the Japanese macaques, Kyoto researchers first went to Africa to study wild chimpanzees. The new Wildlife Research Centre (WRC) of Kyoto University aims to build on the Primate Research Institute to promote broader research and conservation aims. The centre plans to carry out basic research on endangered and threatened species of wild animals to promote their conservation in their natural habitat, to improve their health and welfare in captivity, and to encourage the fusion of scientific approaches to advance the understanding of human nature. Secondly, the centre aims to integrate different areas of science to create new disciplines applicable to field settings and to encourage international collaboration for the co-existence of humans and other living organisms. But, apart from supporting facilities for domestic field work on Japanese macaques on the islands of Koshima and Yakushima, the centre will continue to support and promote work on African primates. Field stations at three sites in Tanzania, two in Congo, and one each in Gabon and Guinea will be supported. Work on the ecology and behaviour of Borneo orangutans is also part of the programme. Apart from the work on primates, the centre is also active with many other species, including whales and dolphins. With Japan's continuing controversial whaling operations in the Southern Ocean, many outsiders might feel sceptical about such work but WRC researcher, Tetsuro Matsuzawa, points out the work done by his colleague, Shiro Koshima, on sleeping behaviours in dolphins and whales. These scientific studies “may help change the attitude of the people and the government,” says Matsuzawa. The centre also has a concern for primates that have been used in medical research in Japan. The centre reports that more than 100 chimpanzees were in use during the 1980s for work on hepatitis vaccines and gene therapy. But a campaign by researchers led to pharmaceutical companies halting work on chimpanzees by 2006. The centre is now caring for more than 70 chimpanzees formerly used in biomedical research and hopes to relocate them in small groups to upgraded zoo facilities. Researchers at the centre are active in helping zoos provide better conditions for their animals — Nagoya Zoo is undergoing major renovation work to provide greatly improved conditions with help from WRC scientists at Kyoto. In collaboration with a total of 90 zoos and 60 aquariums in Japan, the WRC hopes to promote environmental education for young people by offering them unique experiences with animals. Matsuzawa is keen to see the WRC playing a key role in turning zoos “from a sort of amusement park to the real field for environmental education” for young people.