Dead Animal Safari

November's looking like a pretty dry month for blog posts. My video camera, which also serves as my tv-to-computer interface, is on loan until December, so I guess it's gonna be random dear-diary crap and look-what-other-people-are-doing posts till then.

Dear Diary,
As regular readers may know, I'm a birdwatching nerd, and this season provides a good opportunity to see a variety of migratory birds, including several species which don't even live in Japan, but stop here briefly for a place to rest along their way south to Indonesia, etc.
A few weeks ago, I went to the nearby prefectural forest park (県民の森), a 65-hectare (160-acre) spread that even a Canadian might consider to be "real" nature.



As always, I soon veered off the main walking route to a narrow path normally ignored by visitors.
This time I was hoping to spot a winter wren (ミソサザエ)—turns out it was too early.




After 15 minutes of traversing a semi-treacherous overgrown path which I'm sure no one has travelled in years, I happened upon an animal's skeleton. Wow! Untamed World! (Check out the sound file for the full natsukashii experience.)

At first I thought it was a cat, based on its size. But when I looked closely at the skull, I could see large, rodent-like incisors.
What could it be? I couldn't imagine a rodent of that size, living in my area. I had to investigate, which meant taking a sample home for observation!

Now, any typical Japanese hiker would have been equipped with the top-of-the-line hat, gloves, hiking boots, telescopic walking stick, utility belt and backpack, but I was just dressed in cheap street clothes.


What's a fellow to do when he wants to transport a skull?
I pulled a large leaf off of a nearby tree, wrapped the sucker up and stuck it in my shirt pocket.

After I came home I discovered this great website which lists the "Mammals of Japan".
The only rodent I could find that seemed to fit was the North American muskrat. Imported and bred to supply fur for Japanese troops, escapees after WWII first propagated in swampland around the Tokyo area, then steadily decreased in number. My god, had I found the first such specimen in my prefecture? The excitement!

Then suddenly I had a disappointing revelation. A quick google search confirmed it.
It wasn't a rodent. It was a rabbit.



I would have figured it out sooner, but rabbit skeletons don't have ears.

Though most people here have never seen a wild one, they're not exactly an endangered species. I had spotted a couple of them (alive) in the same park last year.
Suddenly I felt so dirty, like I had just been walking around for two hours with, say, a dead puppy in my pocket.

But the story doesn't end there.
Last week I went back to the park with my wife for a nice leisurely autumn stroll. This time, just a few metres from the main path we found another dead rabbit! This time it wasn't a skeleton—it was fresh. Complete with ripped-open guts and flies still on it. What the hell?
Needless to say, I didn't carry this one home.
I can't think of any animal around here that would attack and kill a wild rabbit, besides somebody's pet dog. The only other possibilty I can think of is that it died of natural causes—in an open area frequented by humans—and was then assailed by crows.

Two dead rabbits in as many weeks. Wacky. Must be aliens or Satan worshippers.