[Native Creatures of Japan] Japanese Serow | JULY 2025

The Japanese serow (Capricornis crispus) is called kamoshika in Japanese. Although the name contains the word shika (deer), the animal is actually a member of the subfamily Caprinae, which includes goats and antelopes. It is around 1m to 1.2 m in body length and weighs 30kg to 45 kg, about the size of a young cow. Both sexes have two short, unbranched horns, and a variety of fur color that ranges from black-brown to gray-brown to white-gray. It lives on rocky mountain and steep forest slopes, and likes to eat plants and bamboo grass. The Japanese serow has a four-chambered stomach and ruminates by returning swallowed food to the mouth and rechewing it like cows, and it is often seen resting in the shade of the trees after eating. Since it used to be a game animal, its numbers had decreased sharply to the point it was called a “phantom animal.” In response, it was designated as a National Natural Monument Species1 in 1934 and as a National Special Natural Monument2 in 1955, and the nation as a whole has come together to protect it. The Japanese serow appears on a 50-yen definitive stamp in Japan.

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