I took a short trip to Okinawa and spent a lot of time in the wilderness. It was great! There was an animal I saw that I couldn’t identify. Unfortunately I don’t have a picture, but I’m hoping you guys would know what it is.
It was a long rodent-like animal. Kind of like a weasel or a stoat. And it had whitish fur. I think a falcon or hawk was hunting it when I broke up the fight.
Anyone know what it was?
by YouHandOneHandjob
4 comments
Okinawa is quite big, where did you stay⁇ I was wondering if you stayed in Iriomote, as the creature might be Iriomote cat. Or it can be just normal cat.
You probably saw a Mongoose. It’s also a funny story how they came to the island.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongoose
I know shrews are common here also.
Mongoose most likely. It has a funny story. It was introduced to Okinawa in the early 1900’s to combat the growing habu snake population. The only issue was that the mongoose was mostly active during the day while the habu is nocturnal. Instead, the mongoose grew fond of the endangered yanbaru kuina, or rail bird; further dwindling their numbers.