TOKYO, Mar. 28 – According to a survey by the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) of Japan, the habitat ranges of Japanese deer and wild boars expanded in 2020 to about twice the ranges identified in the initial survey in 1978.
The ministry estimates the habitat of the animals based on hunting reports and interviews with prefectures. MOE takes the method of dividing the whole country into 25-square-kilometer quadrats and identifying the quadrats with the animals.
The latest report said the deer were found in 11,563 quadrats and the wild boars in 9,641 quadrats. Compared to the initial survey in 1978, the deer and wild boar habitats expanded 2.7-fold and 1.9-fold, respectively. Compared to the previous study in 2014, the habitats of the two animals grew by around 10%.
MOE explained that the habitat expansion is attributable to the drop in snowfall and the increase of abandoned land. The former makes more places inhabitable for the animals, and the latter provides more shelters and food, it said.
In fiscal 2019, 1.89 million deer and 0.8 million wild boars are estimated to live in Japan, excluding Hokkaido.