YakushimaFestival Loggerhead turtle、Yakushima macaque、Yakushima deer

Loggerhead turtle、Yakushima macaque、Yakushima deer

loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta)

Loggerhead turtles spawn only in the Japanese archipelago in the North Pacific, and Yakushima is the largest spawning ground in Japan.
Spawning begins in late April and continues until early August. Eggs laid on the beach are heated by geothermal heat and hatch in about two months.
After hatching, the hatchlings move to the upper part of the burrow for 3~7 days from under 60cm of sand, wait until night falls near the ground, escape from the burrow at once, and depart for the open sea.
It is said that hatchlings that enter the sea continue to swim, go out to the open sea, live in the open sea for several years to several decades, and when they grow up, they return to their birthplace, Yakushima, to lay eggs.

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Yakushima macaque

They are also called yakuzaru, yakunihonzaru, and yakushimazaru.
It is a subspecies of Japanese macaque that lives only on Yakushima.
They are slightly smaller than Japanese macaques, and their body hair is characterized by being less dense, thick, and long.

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Yakushima deer

It is a subspecies of Japanese deer that inhabits Yakushima and Kuchinoerabu Jima.
It is the second smallest of the seven subspecies of Japanese deer.
Male Japanese deer have four-branched antlers at maturity, while three or fewer is the norm for Yakushima deer.
Yakushima deer have the morphological characteristic of having short limbs for their body size.

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