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| Duration: | 13:17 |
| Uploaded: | 2026-05-13 |
| Last sync: | 2026-08-06 14:15 |
Two wolves once prowled the mountains and forests of Japan. They were revered as deities, and respected as protectors of travelers and fields, until forces from outside the islands changed everything. Now, one wolf is gone for good, while the other, even though it’s likely extinct, is still being hunted.
Support the show by getting an Endling pin: https://complexly.store/products/endlings-hourglass-pin
Endlings portrait illustrations are by Zoe Keller. You can find out more about her and her work here: https://www.zoekeller.com/
Thumbnail photos by Hiroshi Yagi.
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#BizarreBeasts #endlings #wolves
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Sources:
Walker, B. L. (2009). The lost wolves of Japan. University of Washington Press.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20191011-the-hunt-for-japans-ghost-wolves
https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(20)31101-9?uuid=uuid%3Ae79d710d-128d-49cd-80e4-69c957914168
https://www.env.go.jp/earth/coop/coop/materials/08-ttmnce/08-ttmnce-21.pdf
https://www.akarenga-h.jp/en/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/p2_3_e.pdf
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1055790314002711?via%3Dihub
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/ecology-and-evolution/articles/10.3389/fevo.2022.782528/full#B86
https://bioone.org/journals/zoological-science/volume-26/issue-11/zsj.26.765/Mitochondrial-DNA-Analysis-of-the-Japanese-Wolf-Canis-Lupus-Hodophilax/10.2108/zsj.26.765.full
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7753132/
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/gigantism-and-dwarfism-islands/
https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(20)31101-9?uuid=uuid%3Ae79d710d-128d-49cd-80e4-69c957914168
https://ainu-upopoy.jp/en/ainu-culture/
https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1178791.pdf
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5380354/
https://features.japantimes.co.jp/1-search-japan-wolves/
https://features.japantimes.co.jp/2-search-japan-wolves/
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/10/science/thylacines-tasmanian-tigers-sightings.html
https://australianhumanitiesreview.org/2018/12/02/the-cultural-politics-of-mourning-in-the-era-of-mass-extinction-thylacine-specimen-p762/
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2019/09/13/environment/debate-japans-extinct-wolf-grows/
https://psmag.com/environment/can-wolves-save-japanese-forests/
https://japan-wolf.org/proposal/
https://japan-forward.com/reintroducing-wolves-a-new-hope-for-japanese-ecosystems/
https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/cobi.14130
https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/doi/full/10.1079/9781800622975.0019
https://features.japantimes.co.jp/4-search-japan-wolves/
https://www.sapiens.org/archaeology/ainu-prejudice-pride/
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abh2419
https://ainu.ninjal.ac.jp/folklore/corpus/en/
------
Images:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aPwnx80qbr3nGhaavnc83C3tYFNqQRJ9P12fh_nZzWc/edit?usp=sharing
Support the show by getting an Endling pin: https://complexly.store/products/endlings-hourglass-pin
Endlings portrait illustrations are by Zoe Keller. You can find out more about her and her work here: https://www.zoekeller.com/
Thumbnail photos by Hiroshi Yagi.
Follow us on socials:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bizarrebeastsshow/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BizarreBeastsShow/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/bizarrebeastsshow.bsky.social
#BizarreBeasts #endlings #wolves
-----
Sources:
Walker, B. L. (2009). The lost wolves of Japan. University of Washington Press.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20191011-the-hunt-for-japans-ghost-wolves
https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(20)31101-9?uuid=uuid%3Ae79d710d-128d-49cd-80e4-69c957914168
https://www.env.go.jp/earth/coop/coop/materials/08-ttmnce/08-ttmnce-21.pdf
https://www.akarenga-h.jp/en/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/p2_3_e.pdf
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1055790314002711?via%3Dihub
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/ecology-and-evolution/articles/10.3389/fevo.2022.782528/full#B86
https://bioone.org/journals/zoological-science/volume-26/issue-11/zsj.26.765/Mitochondrial-DNA-Analysis-of-the-Japanese-Wolf-Canis-Lupus-Hodophilax/10.2108/zsj.26.765.full
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7753132/
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/gigantism-and-dwarfism-islands/
https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(20)31101-9?uuid=uuid%3Ae79d710d-128d-49cd-80e4-69c957914168
https://ainu-upopoy.jp/en/ainu-culture/
https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1178791.pdf
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5380354/
https://features.japantimes.co.jp/1-search-japan-wolves/
https://features.japantimes.co.jp/2-search-japan-wolves/
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/10/science/thylacines-tasmanian-tigers-sightings.html
https://australianhumanitiesreview.org/2018/12/02/the-cultural-politics-of-mourning-in-the-era-of-mass-extinction-thylacine-specimen-p762/
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2019/09/13/environment/debate-japans-extinct-wolf-grows/
https://psmag.com/environment/can-wolves-save-japanese-forests/
https://japan-wolf.org/proposal/
https://japan-forward.com/reintroducing-wolves-a-new-hope-for-japanese-ecosystems/
https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/cobi.14130
https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/doi/full/10.1079/9781800622975.0019
https://features.japantimes.co.jp/4-search-japan-wolves/
https://www.sapiens.org/archaeology/ainu-prejudice-pride/
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abh2419
https://ainu.ninjal.ac.jp/folklore/corpus/en/
------
Images:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aPwnx80qbr3nGhaavnc83C3tYFNqQRJ9P12fh_nZzWc/edit?usp=sharing
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