'Animal,' Episode 5: Wolves

In Japan, wolves have long been part of the nation's cultural tapestry, symbolizing sacred guardianship and the natural world, only to later be demonized and exterminated as threats to progress and safety.

For many thousands of years, wolves were revered as sacred guardians throughout Japan.

In ancient times, Japanese people viewed wolves as sacred protectors. Many worshipped at wolf shrines, presenting offerings of rice and beans outside the animals' dens. Communities believed that wolves safeguarded their crops and maintained a balance in the natural world, fulfilling a profoundly respected role within the ecosystem and in the cultural consciousness.

In the 1700s, a rabies outbreak made wolves dangerous, leading to a shift in public perception.

Public perception of wolves began to shift dramatically in the 1700s after a rabies outbreak made the animals dangerous to humans. The 1800s marked a period of rapid modernization and expansion of agricultural practices in Japan. With these changes, wolves came to be seen as pests, threatening livestock, and encroaching on the burgeoning cities, a far cry from their prior status as revered guardians.

The Japanese government systematically hunted and exterminated wolves, with the last known wolf killed in 1905.

Amid rising tensions between the expanding human population and the natural world, the Japanese government undertook a systematic campaign to eradicate wolves. This dark era in Japan's environmental history culminated in the death of the last k ...

Exploring the connection between wolves and domestic dogs reveals the genetic closeness and behavioral divergence fostered by thousands of years of domestication.

Dogs are genetically very close to wolves, essentially being a domesticated version that has evolved a close relationship with humans over thousands of years.

Sam Anderson learns from a dog scientist that the intimate relationship between dogs and humans has been developing for millennia, with dogs evolving from their ancestors, wolves. This evolution has resulted in dogs that are genetically similar to wolves but have behaviors deeply influenced by their connections with humans.

Research has shown that dogs, unlike wolves, exhibit emotional behaviors like crying when their owners return, demonstrating their divergence from their wild ancestors.

The dog scientist's research highlights a significant behavioral difference: dogs express emotions like crying upon their owner's return, something wolves do not exhibit. This difference illustrates the emotional capabilities dogs have developed in relation to humans, further demonstrating their divergence from wild wolves.

The taxi driver, Daisuke, immediately connected the discussion of wolves to his own beloved pet Chihuahua, named Goutarou, showing an intuitive understanding of the wolf-dog connections.

In a personal anecdote, Daisuke, a taxi driver, reflects on the conversation about wolves by discussing his own pet Chihuahua, Goutarou. Anderson sees Daisuke’s perspective as an intuitive understanding of the deep gene ...

In an emotional revelation, a taxi driver named Daisuke shares a harrowing and touching account of his family’s ordeal involving his beloved Chihuahua, Goutarou, and his abusive father-in-law.

Daisuke recounted how he and his family had to move in with his abusive father-in-law, who repeatedly harmed Goutarou the Chihuahua.

Daisuke's family found themselves in a difficult situation when they had to move in with his father-in-law, who had a marked disdain for animals. The father-in-law's violent behavior became apparent when he was alone with Goutarou, targeting the tiny Chihuahua with his aggression.

Daisuke noticed scars on Goutarou and stood up to his father, likening the abuse to hurting his own grandchild, questioning how the father-in-law would feel if someone enacted the same violence on his grandchild. Despite his confrontations, the abuse continued. After returning home to discover Goutarou with a severely injured and bulging eye, Daisuke resolved that they could no longer cohabit with his father-in-law, choosing to leave with his wife, children, and Goutarou to protect the dog from further harm.

Daisuke stood up to his father-in-law to defend Goutarou, eventually leaving the home with his wife and children to protect the dog.

The situation culminated with Goutarou suffering the permanent loss of an eye. The abuse hadn’t ceased after Daisuke's multiple standoffs with his father-in-law. Once the father-in-law injured Goutarou so badly that the dog required hospitalization and subsequently lost his left eye, Daisuke recognized the safekeeping of his family and pet couldn't coexist with living under the same roof as his father-in-law, and made the firm decision to leave.

Goutarou suffered serious injuries, including losing an eye, due to the father-in-law's abuse, leading Daisuke to change the dog's name from the gentle "Love" to the more ...

In a deeply moving account, visitors describe the powerful emotions invoked by a modest wolf statue that serves as a poignant memorial to the last of a once-revered species.

The statue, though modest and unimpressive in scale, was deeply powerful as a memorial to the last individual of a once-revered species.

The wolf statue, although described as a "humble, modest little, little thing, kind of an afterthought of a memorial," is imbued with a significance that belies its unassuming appearance. This memorial captures a deep sense of loss and respect for what once was—a last homage to a species that used to be held in high esteem.

The statue's depiction of the wolf's wide-open, howling mouth evoked the animal's former status as the "large-mouth pure god" in Japanese culture.

The statue's evocative portrayal, featuring the wolf's mouth wide open as if in mid-howl, strikes a chord with its onlookers. It brings to mind the wolf’s earlier cultural identity in Japan as "Obuchi no Magami," or "large-mouth pure god," a term that reflects the creature’s once sacred status.

Standing in the rain next to the statue, the group felt the weight of the wolf's loss of its entire community and pack, mirroring the taxi driver's own There is a palpable, shared sorrow in the air as visitors stand beside the statue under the somber veil of rain. The moisture dripping off the statue's fangs adds to the gravity of the occasion, as the onlookers contemplate the wolf's profound isolation—a loss that resonates w ...