Dosanko
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| Conservation status | FAO (2007): not at risk[1]: 71 |
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The Dosanko (道産子), also known as the Hokkaido Horse (北海道馬, Hokkaido uma) or Hokkaido Pony (北海道ポニー, Hokkaido ponii), is a Japanese breed of small horse. It is one of eight extant indigenous horse breeds of Japan, and the only one of them not critically endangered.[2]: 8 It originated on the island of Hokkaido, in the far north of the country, and is found particularly along the Pacific (eastern) coast of the island.[3] The people of Hokkaido may be nicknamed "Dosanko" after the horses.[4]: 37
History
[edit]The Dosanko is thought to derive from horses brought to the island from the Tōhoku region of north-eastern Honshu in the late Tokugawa period (1603–1868), and abandoned there.[4]: 37
Total numbers of the breed grew from 1180 in 1973 to almost 3000 head in the early 1990s, but by the year 2000 had fallen to 1950 horses.[2]: table 10 A herd book was established in 1979.[3] Hokkaido University receives a grant to study conservation measures for the breed.[2]: 11
References
[edit]- ^ Barbara Rischkowsky, Dafydd Pilling (editors) (2007). List of breeds documented in the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources, annex to: The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Rome: Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ISBN 9789251057629. Archived 23 June 2020.
- ^ a b c d [Editorial Committee Office of the Japanese Country Report, Animal Genetic Resources Laboratory, National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, Japan] ([n.d.]). Country Report (For FAO State of the World’s Animal Genetic Resources Process); annex to: The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Rome: Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ISBN 9789251057629. Archived Accessed 15 October 2012.
- ^ a b c d Breed data sheet: Dosanko/Japan. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed October 2014.
- ^ a b [Nihon Daigaku, Jinkō Kenkyūjo; Hokkaidō Daigaku] (1981). Planned population distribution for development: Hokkaido experience (Conference papers: report of the UNFPA/NUPRI International Seminar on Planned Population Distribution for Development: Hokkaido Experience, 19–23 May 1980, Sapporo, Japan, sponsored by the United Nations Fund for Population Activities, in collaboration with the Nihon University Population Research Institute and Hokkaido University). New York: United Nations Fund for Population Activities. Accessed October 2014.