Reimagining Extinction in Australia and Japan: ‘Voices’ of the Tasmanian Tiger and Hokkaido Wolf

ABSTRACT

This is a comparative, cross-cultural, and multi-disciplinary study of two extinct animals, the Tasmanian tiger in Australia and the Hokkaido wolf in Japan, and their ongoing cultural ‘presence’. The thylacine was last documented in captivity in 1936, and the Hokkaido wolf became extinct around 1900. Both faced rapid extinction due to anthropogenic factors associated with colonisation and modernisation, including eradication policies. Nonetheless, both animals have ongoing cultural and conservation significance. In Australia, the thylacine has become a symbol of redemption and conservation advocated for by devoted citizens who do not believe the animal is extinct. In Japan, the story of the Hokkaido wolf has been kept alive by Tezuka Osamu, a legendary manga/anime artist. Tezuka’s life project was to change anthropocentric human-nature relationships through his work. These two animals have significant ongoing implications for conservation and sustainability. The Tasmanian tiger offers a new approach to conservation through the pursuit of ‘Lazarus species’. The Hokkaido wolf provides an alternative ontology useful for rethinking human-nature relationships. Both point to the significant roles that different worldviews and emotional commitments can play for sustainable futures. They present new possibilities for reimagining extinction in the Anthropocene, showing that even extinct animals can give us hope.

KEYWORDS:

• Extinction
• emotion
• anthropocene
• human-nature relationship
• tasmanian tiger
• thylacine

Acknowledgement

We are grateful for support from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Australia Japan Foundation, the Australian National University, and the University of Adelaide in completing this work.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ While there are many similarities between the two groups of extant animal enthusiasts in Australia and Japan, the focus of the article is the comparison of the Hokkaido wolf with the thylacine, for the reasons stated earlier, and we will leave the full comparative analysis of these groups to a separate paper. For more information on the search for Japanese wolves, see the NPO Zaidan hojin Nihon okami o sagasu kai [NPO Organization Looking for Japanese Wolves] (2022) at https://canischichibu.com/

² A species that has been declared extinct and is subsequently re-discovered to be extant (Ryan & Baker 2016), as would be the case for the thylacine if members of TAGOA succeeded in demonstrating its survival.

³ The other story is Okami no hi [Monument for wolves] by Togawa Yukio (story) and Honjo Kei (manga). It is a historical manga about the extinction of Hokkaido wolves. Togawa is an established writer who specialises in stories on animals. The manga is a well-documented and moving story of human-nature interactions, but it is more of a historical account of the extinction. It is not an artistic critique, nor does it have any innovative or philosophical perspective and for this reason we focus here only on Tezuka’s work.

⁴ Tezuka produced some 700 manga and anime stories, many of which address human-nature relationships. Kimba the White Lion (1965) is one of his most famous anime, second only to Astro Boy (1963). He wrote numerous other stories with animals in the central role, such as Korosuke no hashi [Korosuke’s bridge] (1978) about the endangered Japanese serow, Taiga rando [Tiger Land] (1974), and Yamataro kaeru [Yamataro comes back] (1980) about a bear. In the stories, Tezuka often has humans and animals interacting as equal partners, communicating either in human language or through telepathy, as equal beings with the same weight of life, emotion, and soul. Often, the animals take on a human persona and begin to live as a human, even to the extent of marrying and having children, while still retaining the consciousness and identity of their animal self (for example, fox in Akuemon [1973]).