No Monkeys in Ibaraki
The other day I read an article on SoraNews24 about the Japanese macaques. I'm partly fascinated and partly creeped out by these wild monkeys. In the US, I can see monkeys in the zoo. In Japan, I have seen these creatures while hiking on Yakushima and in the onsen in Nagano Prefecture. Both times I was very excited to see them.
My Japanese friends and my students take monkeys for granted, after all, the wild monkeys are all over Japan. Almost! The SoraNews24 article said the wild monkeys can be found in 44 prefectures, but not in the other three. Can you guess which three? If you guessed Hokkaido and Okinawa for two of them, you are correct. Those two are at the far ends of Japan, so that seems logical. The third one with no monkeys is Ibaraki.
Ibarki is central and the prefectures surrounding Ibaraki have monkeys, but not Ibaraki. Why? Maybe there aren't enough trees, or maybe monkeys don't like natto (fermented soybeans), which Ibaraki is famous for. Maybe there are predators, like wild boars? What do you think? Another Japanese mystery...
7 comments:
I have absolutely no idea!
Hi Pamela interesting post,i didnt know that monkeys could swim thankyou for sharing.
Have always enjoyed seeing pictures of these monkeys in the hot springs in the winter....maybe they just don't like those areas??
I don't know. This is a very interesting post. I can't believe monkeys are free to roam and think it is so cool. Monkeys must be as common there as squirrels are here in the USA. The subject of monkeys in Japan comes up pretty frequently in my house. I have no idea why. My kids (adults) are fascinated by the subject.
xx, Carol
Nice photos of the monkeys. I would love to see them -- didn't get to see any on our trips to Japan.
best... mae at maefood.blogspot.com
I was thinking of you yesterday, a tv programme showed deer at a shrine in Japan. They had learned to bow their heads to get a good great from visitors.
Or maybe the Ibaraki monkeys are just better at hiding! Little Ninja-monkeys ;)
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