Species estimates shown here are based on numbers described scientifically; much larger estimates have been calculated based on various means of prediction, and these can vary wildly. Other animals may have very specific feeding behaviours, such as hawksbill sea turtles which mainly eat sponges. In sponges, blastula larvae swim to a new location, attach to the seabed, and develop into a new sponge. Japan is the most successful Asian Rugby Union country and hosted the 2019 IRB Rugby World Cup. The country gained the hosting rights for the official Women’s Volleyball World Championship on five occasions, more than any other country.
Japan is a unitary state and constitutional monarchy in which the power of the emperor (Tennō) is limited to a ceremonial role. As the host and signatory of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, Japan is under treaty obligation to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions and to take other steps to curb climate change. Japan ranks 20th in the 2018 Environmental Performance Index, which measures a country’s commitment to environmental sustainability. The highest temperature ever measured in Japan, 41.8 °C (107.2 °F), was recorded on August 5, 2025. The main rainy season begins in early May in Okinawa, and the rain front gradually moves north.
- Species estimates shown here are based on numbers described scientifically; much larger estimates have been calculated based on various means of prediction, and these can vary wildly.
- Animals, plants, fungi, and some other living things have complex cells, so they are grouped together as eukaryotes.
- The Japonic-speaking Yayoi people later entered the archipelago from the Korean Peninsula, intermingling with the Jōmon people.
- In sponges, blastula larvae swim to a new location, attach to the seabed, and develop into a new sponge.
- Development in Bilateria and Cnidaria is controlled by Hox genes, which signal the times and places to develop structures such as body segments and limbs.
- It is thought to be one of the earliest predators, catching small prey with its nematocysts as modern cnidarians do.
- As the host and signatory of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, Japan is under treaty obligation to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions and to take other steps to curb climate change.
The Japanese archipelago consists of four major islands alongside over 14,000 smaller islands. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asian mainland, it is bordered to the west by the Sea of Japan, the Sea of Okhotsk in the north, and the East China Sea in the south. A fish is adapted to its life in water and a crab is adapted to a life catching and eating insects.
This Hugely Popular Breed Lives Far Fewer Years Than Most Owners Realize
- People without insurance through employers can participate in a national health insurance program administered by local governments.
- Relative to gross domestic product, Japan’s research and development budget is the sixth or seventh highest in the world, with 907,400 researchers sharing a 22-trillion-yen research and development budget as of 2023update.
- The United States is a major market for Japanese exports and a major source of Japanese imports, and is committed to defending the country, with military bases in Japan.
- Popular Japanese beverages include sake, a brewed rice beverage that typically contains 14–17% alcohol and is made by multiple fermentation of rice.
- Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asian mainland, it is bordered to the west by the Sea of Japan, the Sea of Okhotsk in the north, and the East China Sea in the south.
- Japan has the second highest number of researchers in science and technology per capita in the world with 14 per 1000 employees.
- It underwent rapid economic growth in the following decades and became one of the first major non-NATO allies of the U.S.
Most animals rely on biomass and bioenergy produced by plants and phytoplanktons (collectively called producers) through photosynthesis. Selective pressures imposed on one another lead to an evolutionary arms race between predator and prey, resulting in various antagonistic/competitive coevolutions. In carnivorous or omnivorous species, predation is a consumer–resource interaction where the predator feeds on another organism, its prey, who often evolves anti-predator adaptations to avoid being fed upon. These fuse to form zygotes, which develop via mitosis into a hollow sphere, called a blastula.
Spinner Shark
Japan ranked seventh in the world in tonnage of fish caught and captured 3,167,610 metric tons of fish in 2016, down from an annual average of 4,000,000 tons over the previous decade. As the central coordinating body for the Prefectural Police Departments, the National Police Agency is administered by the National Public Safety Commission. The deployment of troops to Iraq and Afghanistan marked the first overseas use of Japan’s military since World War II. The country’s military, the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF), is restricted by Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, which renounces Japan’s right to declare war or use military force in international disputes. Japan is widely considered to be a great power due to its economic power and political, cultural, and military influence. The broadly conservative Liberal Democratic Party has been the dominant party in the country since the 1950s, often called the 1955 System.
EX Extinct EW Extinct in the Wild CR Critically Endangered EN Endangered VU Vulnerable NT Near Threatened LC Least Concern Oak Toad Oarfish Ocean Perch Ocean Pout Ocean Whitefish Oceanic Whitetip Shark Ocellated Turkey Ocelot Octopus Oenpelli python Oilfish Okapi Old English Sheepdog Old House Borer Oleander Hawk Moth Olingo Olive Baboon Olive python Olive Sea Snake Olm Olympic Marmot Onagadori Chicken Onager Opabinia Opah Opaleye (Rudderfish) Opossum Oranda Goldfish Orange Baboon Tarantula Orange Dream Ball Python Orange Roughy Orange Spider Orange Tanager (Orange-Headed Tanager) Orange-Crowned Warbler Orangutan Orb Weaver Orchard Oriole Orchid Dottyback Oregon Spotted Frog Ori-Pei Oribi Oriental Cockroach Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher Orinoco Crocodile Ornate Bichir Ornate Black-Tailed Rattlesnake Ornate Box Turtle Ornithocheirus Ornithomimus Ortolan Bunting Oscar Fish Osprey Ostracod Ostrich Otter Otterhound Ovenbird Oviraptor Owl Owl Butterfly Owlfly (Ascalaphidae) Ox Oxpecker Oyster Oyster Toadfish Ozark Bass Major animal paintings include Albrecht Dürer’s 1515 The Rhinoceros, and George Stubbs’s c. Some medicines such as the cancer drug trabectedin are based on toxins or other molecules of animal origin.
Spinner Shark
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Red-Billed Quelea Bird
In 1185, following the defeat of the Taira clan by the Minamoto clan in the Genpei War, samurai Minamoto no Yoritomo established a military government at Kamakura. In 784, Emperor Kanmu moved the capital, settling on Heian-kyō (modern-day Kyoto) in 794. The period is characterized by the appearance of a nascent literary culture with the completion of the Kojiki (712) and Nihon Shoki (720), as well as the development of Buddhist-inspired artwork and architecture. The Nara period (710–784) marked the emergence of a Japanese state centered on the Imperial Court in Heijō-kyō (modern Nara).
Law enforcement
The earliest works of Japanese literature include the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki chronicles and the Man’yōshū poetry anthology, all from the 8th century and written in Chinese characters. Japan has the lowest rate of heart disease in the OECD, and the lowest level of dementia among developed countries. Since 1981, the principal cause of death in Japan is cancer, which accounted for 27% of the total deaths in 2018—followed by cardiovascular diseases, which led to 15% of the deaths.
The country hosted the official 2006 Basketball World Championship and co-hosted the 2023 Basketball World Championship. Super GT is the most popular national racing series in Japan, while Super Formula is the top-level domestic open-wheel series. Green tea is produced in Japan and prepared in forms such as basswin matcha, used in the Japanese tea ceremony.