Rumen contents (N=90) of sika deer (Cervus nippon) were collected on Shimojima and Kamijima, which together compose the Tsushima Island group, western Japan, in the spring and autumn of 1992 and 1993. Data were analyzed using the point frame method. The dominant food was tree leaves in both seasons; 42.2% and 64.3% in spring and autumn, respectively, for the Shimojima population and 63.1% in autumn for the Kamijima population. As for the Shimojima population, deciduous tree leaves comprised less of rumen contents in spring (3.4%) than in autumn (17.4%). In autumn, occurrence of evergreen tree leaves was the highest among tree leaves found in the Shimojima population, while the highest occurrence was of deciduous tree leaves for the Kamijima population. Tree species available to the deer were classified into the following four groups; group A which is composed of 13 families including 17 species such as Castanopsis sieboldii was eaten and abundant, group B which is composed of 8 families including 8 species such as Swida macrophylla was preferred but less available, group C was abundant but uneaten, and group D was scarce and uneaten.

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Reliability of body fat indices in raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides) was examined using 81 specimens which were culled or died from traffic accidents in Honshu, Japan, in 1992 and 1993. The amount of whole body fat highly correlated with the peripheral kidney and tongue fats, but not with the back fat, femur marrow fat, and obesity index. An order of fat absorption among the fat indices examined was not prominent.

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Japanese sealing of sea otters and northern fur seals directly entered the stage of marketing management without passing through a stage of natural resource plundering, and it may be considered that sealing had advanced to next stage of preliminary resource management by Meiji's social revolution in Japan. Under the support of the "High Seas Fisheries Activity Promotion" treaty that was established in 1897, Japanese sealing started and abruptly developed. On the other hand, USA and England made a contact with each other concerning sealing at sea management which led to a prohibition of sealing at sea. This was in contrast to previous seal harvest irregardless of sex or age. The Japanese government was obliged to honor an international agreement (ICCNPFS), and sealing advanced to the natural resource management as the forth stage. After the second world war, with the increase of animal research activity, ecological management as the fifth stage started. The United States currently follows the Marine Mammal Protection Act which is based on natural resource management through marine community dynamics. It is expected that Japan too will advance its policies to marine community management as the next stage.

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