The Asian black bear (Ursus thibetanus) inhabits mountainous areas in Honshū, Kyūshū and Shikoku. Smaller carnivores include the red fox (Vulpes vulpes), raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides) and Japanese marten (Martes melampus).
Japan's largest wild mammal comes in two colors: the Ussuri (or Ezo) brown bear and the Asian black bear. Native to Hokkaido, the Ussuri brown bear is considered the most ferocious of the pair.
There are a few things to watch out for, including giant centipedes, poisonous snakes and the denki mushi – a little green caterpillar that will make you feel like you've been electrocuted if you touch it! One of Japan's deadliest creatures is the giant hornet, which has even caused fatalities.
A new species of deep-sea fish measuring over a meter long has been discovered in Japan's deepest bay by a research team led by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC). The fish is thought to be an apex predator in the ecosystem of Suruga Bay of Shizuoka Prefecture, southwest of Tokyo.
There are two wildcats in Japan: the Tsushima leopard cat, and Iriomote cat living on the island of Iriomote in Okinawa prefecture.
As noted, the fossil record to date demonstrates that while a subspecies of tiger likely once lived in Japan, it became extinct hundreds of thousands of years ago.
Wolves have officially been extinct in Japan since 1905, but there are grassroots efforts under way to reintroduce them. The Japan Wolf Association is an active organization.
Dingoes are Australia's only native canid and play an important role as an apex predator, keeping natural systems in balance.
Why does Australia lack apex predators? It doesn't. It has the dingo. Dingoes prey on mammals up to the size of the large red kangaroo, in addition to birds, reptiles, fish, crabs, frogs, insects, and seeds.
Because when man first found these islands at the bottom of the world, there was nothing but birds. Aside from a couple of tiny bat species, New Zealand has no native land mammals. And with no predators to eat them, many of the native birds – including their beloved kiwi – never learned to fly.
As mentioned above, Tokyo is generally a safe city to walk around - even late at night - and most visitors experience minimal (if any) hassle by locals. You should nevertheless maintain a certain degree of street sense and awareness around you, particularly if you are a female walking alone later in the evening.
Japan has implemented several national animal welfare laws since 1973, but its protections for animals are considered weak by international standards. Animal activism and protection laws in Japan are mainly focused on the welfare of domesticated animals and farm animals.
Over time, the Chinese and Japanese version diverged into slightly different creatures. In Japan, the kirin is considered to be the most powerful and sacred beast of all, surpassing the hō-ō and tatsu in power. The giraffe is also called kirin in Japanese, named for the traits it shares with the holy kirin.
#1. Wolf. The wolf is the top apex predator in the world.
The Nile crocodile, found in sub-Saharan Africa, is the most aggressive animal in the world.
Overkill by medium-sized predators is therefore a ubiquitous threat for small ground-dwelling mammals in Australia. Australia's largest extant predator is the dingo C. lupus dingo.
Thylacoleo carnifex, the largest carnivorous Australian mammal known, may have hunted other Pleistocene megafauna like the giant Diprotodon. Thylacoleo was one of the first fossil mammals described from Australia, discovered not long after European settlement.
The last known Tasmanian tiger also known as Tasmanian wolf, or thylacine died in captivity in 1936. A multimillion-dollar project is in the works to bring back a tiger that died in the 1930s. The thylacine, a Tasmanian tiger, was the only marsupial apex predator in Australia's Tasmania island.
The great white shark, the Australian cobra and crocodile are formidable predators and pose dangers to humans. But on average, all the people killed each year by snakes, crocodiles and sharks can be counted on just one hand.
Quokkas, famous for posing in selfies, are native to Rottnest Island where about 10,000 live a sheltered life free from predators or traffic. They are classified as a vulnerable species and have been almost completely wiped out on the mainland.
Australia HAD large land predators such as the marsupial lion. But Australia was ruled by giant reptiles like 450 pound relatives of the Komodo Dragons 3 - 4 times the size of those today, and long legged land dwelling crocodiles and HUGE snakes. Then, 40,000 years ago, humans arrived. The rest is history.
Tigers and lions have been familiar motifs within Japanese art from ancient times, although, the animals were imaginary and unfamiliar to the people because they did not actually inhabit Japan.
The Japanese macaque, the Japanese weasel, the Japanese serow, the Japanese squirrel, the Japanese giant flying squirrel, the Japanese dwarf flying squirrel, the Japanese red-backed vole, the Okinawa spiny rat, the Japanese dormouse, the Amami rabbit and the Japanese hares are endemic mammals of Japan.