Ogasawara World Heritage Center was added to Your Favorites!
Ogasawara NP, Tokyo
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Ogasawara tiger beetles spend about a year being raised at the Center before staff carry them to Anijima. In one 2022 release, 176 were returned to bare-ground habitat that can reach 65°C.
The Center breeds 6 endemic Mandarina snails, whose hard shells evolved into different forms for life in trees or on the ground. Their continuing diversification is part of what makes Ogasawara a World Heritage site.
The Center displays a model of Anijima’s 3-km green-anole barrier—and it isn’t electrified. The real fence combines netting, an electric line and an overhanging panel to help stop the invasive lizard from spreading.
Wild endemic snails are hard to find on Chichijima, but the Center displays 3 captive-reared species. Through a broad glass window, visitors can also watch the conservation team working in the breeding lab.
Before equipment travels to uninhabited islands, the Center checks it, freezes or fumigates it, then stores it in a clean room. Even a tool bag gets biosecurity treatment to help keep invasive species from hitching a ride.
A 2020 potted Shimakakosō exhibit left a surprise at the entrance: seeds apparently fell and sprouted there. After the original plant disappeared, the little plant grew back.
The Center’s mascots are modeled on endemic snails: shy Kinosuke, a Kinobori Katamimai who likes vegetables, and curious, fruit-loving Benihime, a Kuchi-beni Katamimai. The public chose their names in 2022.
When the Center opened in 2017, its staff-made visitor counter made counting delightfully tactile: each guest dropped a stone into a box marked either for island residents or for tourists.
