Basking in the sun

Click to enlarge

I see these skinks often recently now that it has gotten warmer.  Often is perhaps too weak a word for it.  They are all over the place.  Well, perhaps that was too strong a phrase.

I found this lizard sticking out its upper body out of the small cracks of rocks, basking in the sun, right in front of the house.  If I approach it carelessly it will hide in the crack immediately, but if I approach it slowly and not startle it it just stays there.  Must be really warm in the spring sun.  I want to do the same, but if I bask in the sun the day will be over before I know it.  Being a mammal, I cannot quite live like the reptiles.  Unfortunate.

venison

Click to enlarge

A good food alone is enough to make me very happy.  If my purpose in life was to spread happiness I probably would have aimed to be a chef.

The above picture is a venison with cherry sauce, recipe of which I found online.  We Chiiori were fortunate to have a neighbor give us venison as "samples."

Locals say that venisons are best as Sashimi (raw), but I was not so sure about that so I tried several cooking recipes.  The thing about venison is that it has so little fat, so if it is cooked thoroughly it becomes very dry. (And I prefer to cook it thoroughly because I am not sure how safe the meat is.) That is when a sweet sauce like this cherry sauce comes in.  I tried it with pineapples or apples, and they were also very good.

Unfortunately I cannot guarantee the safety of eating this venison, so I cannot offer it to the guest staying at Chiiori.  I'm still alive so far.

Overpopulation of deers are becoming problems in Japan, just like it is in US.  Unlike US, Japan does not have a naturally returning wolf population and sports hunting is extremely rare.  Only recently Japanese are becoming aware of the problems associated with deer overpopulation, as plants are getting decimated across the countryside, and so are the crops.  More and more, people are talking about the use of venisons, and soon there will be a deer meat processing factory in Tokushima as well.  That alone would not solve the problem of deer overpopulation, but at least it is more of an environmentally friendly source of meat.

Click to enlarge

Found just in front of the house.  It may be slightly difficult to see in the picture.  It is a Japanese five-lined skink (Eumeces latiscutatus), though this particular individual seem to have lost the five-lines.  Apparently the lines are more distinct when they are still young, which means this one is rather mature.  It was larger than most skinks I have seen so far.  

It stayed still even though I was just staring at it.  I went inside the house to grab a camera, and it was still there in the same spot when I came back.  Even though it was sunny, the air was still chilly and this lizard probably needed to sun-bath before it could move well.  Until then, it's safety depends on the camouflage and being still.  

I guess the fact that this lizard is out of hibernation means the Spring is here.  Even though it snowed only two days ago... 

Sighting

Can you see it in the above picture?  I did not see it until after I took the picture.
Let me get a focus on it a bit more.

Still not quite easy to distinguish.

I guess it's just impossible to get a good picture.

I've seen many of its tracks around the house before, but this is only the second time I've seen it moving.  It's a mole.  I cannot tell which species of moles it is, cause I could only see its butt.  It digs in head-first, so of course it's almost impossible to see the head.  Because I can only see its butt, it looks like a constantly squirming fur-ball.  As I watch it with a camera in hand, it wanders about completely mindless of my presence, bumping into a stone, nearly falling off the edge, going back and forth, backing up the way it has come from, and just wandering around seemingly without any destination in mind.  It was oddly peaceful thing to watch.

Its fur is short and dense, very velvety.  I would love to touch and feel its fur, but its claws are big and sharp.  Touching it could result in getting myself hurt.  But I was content enough in just watching it wandering around.

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.