Is the stuffed animal an extinct Japanese wolf?A junior high school student in Tokyo noticed this.

It has been discovered that the stuffed animal that was kept at the National Museum of Nature and Science as a type of mountain dog is now believed to be an extinct Japanese wolf.

A junior high school student in Tokyo was the first to notice that it might be a Japanese wolf, and after conducting research with experts, he recently published an announcement.

The paper was published by Hinako Komori, a first-year junior high school student in Tokyo, and a research team from the National Museum of Nature and Science.

Four years ago, when Komori was in the fourth grade of elementary school, he visited a special public event in the storage room of the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture, and one of the taxidermied animal specimens kept there was a Japanese wolf that he had seen in an illustrated book. I noticed that it is similar.

This stuffed dog had been kept in a museum as a "type of mountain dog," but after a detailed investigation by Komori and experts, he discovered that it was over 100 years old based on the body size and past records based on the taxidermy's label. We found that this was most likely the Japanese wolf that was kept at the current Ueno Zoo, and it took us two years to compile it into a paper, which we published this month.

According to the research team, the Japanese wolf once lived widely in Japan, but it is believed that it went extinct about 100 years ago, and only a few taxidermy and fur specimens remain in Japan and overseas.

Mr. Komori: “I immediately realized that this was a Japanese wolf.”

Hinako Komori (13), who presented the paper, is a first-year student at a junior high school in Tokyo.

She became interested in Japanese wolves when she was in the second grade of elementary school, and learned about their characteristics by visiting stuffed animals kept in Japan and by studying illustrated books and academic books.

Commenting on his feelings at the time when he realized that it had similar characteristics to the Japanese wolf, Komori said, ``When I noticed the characteristics, such as the flattened shape from the forehead to the nose, short front legs, and black fur on the back, "It hit me like a radar that this was a Japanese wolf. In my head, I felt like I wanted to start dancing."

Later, Komori learned that this stuffed animal had been treated as ``a type of wild dog'' and had not been thoroughly investigated, so he consulted experts and researched past records published by museums and other institutions to come up with an idea. When I was in 5th grade, I compiled a report and presented my findings that the stuffed animal I found at a museum during my independent research might be a Japanese wolf.

This report won the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award in a competition sponsored by the Library Foundation, and one of the experts we consulted was Sayaka Kobayashi, a researcher at the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology in Chiba Prefecture, who is familiar with the history of specimens. He received a proposal from ``We would like you to publish the results of this research in the form of an academic paper,'' which led to his goal of writing a paper.

In order to provide an objectively grounded study, the paper was written after two years of repeated analysis and consideration, and after peer review by experts, it was published as an electronic journal by the National Museum of Nature and Science on the 22nd of this month. I published a paper at.

The driving force behind publishing the paper was an inquisitive spirit, and Komori said, ``As I researched, new mysteries came up, and it was difficult but fun to investigate further and solve them.'' A lot of research has been done on Japanese wolves, but their true appearance is not known, so many mysteries remain.The best thing to do is to know and unravel their true appearance.'' Ta.

Co-author of the paper: ``Hinako-chan has amazing powers of observation''

Sayaka Kobayashi, a researcher at the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology in Chiba Prefecture and one of the co-authors who recommended that the paper be published, said, ``From the first time I saw the report, I thought it would be quite a study. , I'm glad that it turned out to be a paper. I think Hinako-chan has great observational skills and is very talented in that aspect. I only taught her the methods, but she mastered what she liked and eventually became a Japanese wolf. I'm really happy that we were able to get close to the point where it was a high possibility."

She also said, ``If you research one thing that interests you, I think there will be a world that expands beyond that, so I hope that you will continue to deepen your interest in the field that interests you.'' I sent a shout out to Mr. Komori.

National Museum of Nature and Science official: ``We will continue to make many discoveries in the future.''

Regarding the discovery of a new stuffed animal that appears to be a Japanese wolf in the National Museum of Nature and Science, Shinichiro Kawada, one of the co-authors of the paper and a research director in the Zoological Research Department of the National Museum of Nature and Science, said that Komori discovered it when he was an elementary school student. ``I think it's amazing that I wrote a paper in my first year of junior high school.''

He then encouraged students by saying, ``I believe that research can be done by elementary, junior high, and high school students if they follow the learning process properly.I'm looking forward to the future, as I'm sure Mr. Komori will continue to make many discoveries.'' I was there.

The National Museum of Nature and Science houses historically valuable specimens from over 100 years ago, including the stuffed animal believed to be the Japanese wolf, and new specimens and materials continue to be added every year, bringing the total number to over 5 million. It is the largest scale in Japan.

In order to manage the precious collection, the National Museum of Nature and Science conducted a crowdfunding campaign last August, and more than 50,000 people donated, raising over 900 million yen, far exceeding the goal.

Mr. Kawada is also in charge of managing the huge collection of stuffed animals kept at the museum, and through this discovery he has reaffirmed the importance of passing on valuable collections to the future.

Mr. Kawada said, ``We obtained this result by examining specimens from 100 years ago, but there are many specimens, not just Japanese wolves, whose identities are unknown. I think it will be possible to investigate from this perspective, so I realized once again how important it is to preserve specimens for the future."

This stuffed animal is being kept in the backyard and there are no plans to release it to the public for the time being, but another stuffed Japanese wolf is on display at a museum in Ueno, Tokyo, and can be viewed.