Japanese serow

One of the wildlife I encountered almost as soon as I came to Iya.  They are called Japanese serows, or Nihon kamoshika.  Though many Japanese confuse them to be a kind of a deer, partially because the shika means deer, they are in bovine family, like cattle.  For one thing, they have horns instead of antlers.

Maybe because they are bovids, many of the locals who have eaten their meat say they taste better than the deer meat.  I'm guessing they taste like beef.  But they are protected by Japanese government as a "natural heritage," so it is unlikely that I will ever taste one.

Like deer, their numbers have declined in the past due to hunting.  Like deer, some protection measures have been placed, and the number have continued to increase since.  Unlike deer, they are still protected.

Also unlike deer, they are solitary and territorial animals, and a hunting pressure could cause the number to decline rapidly.  The solitary/territorial behavior means their population density is low and thus the damage to the crops and such that deers often cause are not really significant with serows.

Of course, if they are caught by animal traps or if they are accidentally shot, most locals do not report to the government as they are supposed to do.  I probably would too, if I happen to be in their place.  I would want to have to deal with bureaucrats as little as possible.  The so called protection is not really all that effective.