Japanese badger and increased popularity of badger meat in Japanese restaurants, it is feared the culling may have reached an unsustainable level. Japanese badger The Japanese badger ("Meles anakuma") is a species of carnivoran of the family Mustelidae, the weasels and their kin. Endemic to Japan, it is found on Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku, and Shodoshima. It shares the genus "Meles" with the Asian and European badgers. In Japan it is called by the name "nihonanaguma" (ニホンアナグマ), lit. "Japan hole-bear". Japanese badgers are smaller (average length in males, in females) and less sexually dimorphic (except in the size of the canine teeth) than
Meles (genus) has been much discussion as to whether it is a single species or three distinct species. There are geographical differences between individuals from different parts of the range in skull structure, morphology of the first premolar teeth, and facial markings. Some authorities advocated placing European and Asian badgers in separate species, "Meles meles" and "Meles leptorhynchus" (Milne-Edwards, 1867), the boundary between the two being the Volga River. Others considered there to be three subspecies, "M. m. meles", found west of the Volga, "M. m. arenarius-leptorhynchus", found between the Volga and Transbaikalia, and "M. m. amurensis-anakuma" from the Amur region and