Honshū Wolf

Island dwarfism led to the smallest subspecies of the wolf

The extinct Honshū wolf, which was only found on the Japanese islands of Honshū, Shikoku, and Kyūshū, is considered the smallest subspecies of the wolf. Its body length was about 90 centimeters, and its shoulder height was 56 centimeters. The relatively small size of this wolf was due to the evolutionary phenomenon of island dwarfism. In this phenomenon, the body size of animals decreases over generations when they live on an island in the absence of predators and humans. Other extinct animals also exhibited dwarfism over time, such as the Malagasy hippopotamuses, the Lemerle’s dwarf hippopotamus and Hippopotamus madagascariensis, or the Sicilian dwarf elephant (Palaeoloxodon falconeri). The Sicilian wolf, which went extinct in the 20th century, is also smaller than its mainland relatives.

Naming confusion: The Honshū wolf is sometimes also referred to as the Japanese wolf, but this designation is ambiguous because the already extinct Hokkaidō wolf (Canis lupus hattai) is also often called the Japanese wolf.

Both the Honshū wolf and the Hokkaidō wolf are subspecies of the present-day gray wolf (Canis lupus lupus). They are the only two wolf species that were endemic to Japan. The gray wolf (also known as the Eurasian or European wolf) can reach a head-to-body length of 140 centimeters and a shoulder height of 70 to 90 centimeters, making it significantly larger than the Honshū wolf.

The Honshū wolf was first described by the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck in 1839 as smaller than the gray wolf, with shorter legs and smooth, short fur.

Honshu Wolf – Fact sheet

Alternative name	Japanischer wolf, Shamanu
Scientific name	Canis lupus hodophilax, Canis japonicus, Canis hodophylax
Original range	Honshū, Shikoku, Kyūshū (Japan)
Time of extinction	1905
Causes of extinction	overhunting, rabies

Honshu wolf allegedly sighted

Until 1997, there were occasional reports of Honshu wolf sightings, according to British zoologist and cryptozoologist Karl Shuker in The Beasts That Hide from Man (2003). However, none of these alleged sightings were sufficiently verified. Japanese zoologists suspect that the Honshu wolf was likely confused with wild dogs.

Experts now believe that the Honshu wolf is extinct. It is said that the last specimen died in 1905 in a village named Higashi-Yoshino in Nara Prefecture, Japan.

Honshu wolf: Extinct within a generation

In 2008, Brett Walker examined the history of the extinction of the Honshu wolf in The Lost Wolves of Japan. Historical records from as early as 967 suggest that the wolf preferred to prey on wild horses and domestic horses in pastures or stables, which contributed to the fear and hunting of the wolf by humans.

It was not until 1701 that the first bounty on wolves was introduced, meaning that people who killed a Honshu wolf were rewarded. With the advent of firearms and poison, professional wolf hunters began to significantly reduce the Honshu wolf population starting in 1742.

In 1736, a rabies epidemic broke out in eastern Japan, eventually reaching the wolf population. The disease, which came to Japan from Korea or China, spread gradually throughout the country. It caused behavioral changes in some animals, making them particularly aggressive and vicious. They began to attack not only horses but also humans.

With the Meiji Restoration in 1868, organized wolf hunts became part of national policy. Within a single generation, the Honshu wolf was eradicated.

John Knight highlights in his 1997 article On the Extinction of the Japanese Wolf the changing perception of the wolf. The aggression caused by rabies and habitat destruction through deforestation led to conflicts between wolves and humans. This resulted in farmers actively hunting the wolves to protect their livestock and their own livelihoods.