Excavations at the cave of Otaki Chichibu-city, by the Japan Association of Cave Exploration and Saitama Museum of Natural History in 2014 recovered 99 bones of the Bear (Ursus sp.) representing an individual.
The material includes fragments of cranial bone, lower M1, vertebra, rib, scapula, humerus, ulna, radius, pelvis, femur, fibula, tibia, carpal bone, tarsal bone, metacarpal, metatarsal, proximal phalange, middle phalanx and distal phalanx. There are no same parts and the degrees of development of bones are same. Therefore, the specimen is identified as the same juvenile individual of Ursus sp..
Bear fossils are reported from 21 localities in Japan. However, almost fossil records were incomplete. Thus, this specimen is most complete skeleton of Japanese fossil records.

View full abstract

In order to evaluate of plant species diversity in Saitama prefecture, I determined the diversity index and number of species in each area based on data of the Flora of Saitama. As a result, significant correlation was found between the total area and number of species or diversity index in each area both ferns and seed plants of Saitama Prefecture. On the other hand, the number of species and diversity index in each area was considered to be strongly affected by the total area than urbanization.

View full abstract