Dedicated to the memory of Dr. Kinji Imanishi
Kinji Imanishi (1902–1992) was an eminent Japanese zoologist and ecologist known for his contributions to the field of ecology. His pioneering studies on several primate species, including Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata), helped establish the field of primatology in Japan. Imanishi and co-workers founded Kyoto University’s Primate Research Institute in 1967.
For many years he observed and documented the complex social structures and relationships among macaque individuals, including dominance hierarchies, social bonds, and patterns of social grooming. Imanishi also looked into the relationships between macaques and their environments, including diets, home ranges, and adaptations to different habitats.
However, it is less known, that Imanishi happened upon a group of wild Japanese monkeys (macaques) when he was studying free-ranging horses with Shunzo Kawamura, and Junichiro Itani, while they were conducting research on free-ranging horses in Toimisaki, Japan in 1948.
was known for wild horses. (Photo from Itani Jun’ichiro Archives at PRI,
Kyoto University)
From right, Itani, Imanishi, Kawamura. Upper, Tokuda, at Toi Cape, which
was known for wild horses. (Photo from Itani Jun’ichiro Archives at PRI,
Kyoto University)
So, Imanishi was not only a pioneering primatologist but he was also undoubtedly one of the first equine ethologists to study free-living horses. The population he studied between 1947-1948 had a total of 70 horses, of which only three were male. The horses lived half the year in a grassier area and the other half in a woodier landscape with more shrubs and trees. What he referred to as the winter quarter. Based on his observations, he noted that horses preferred grazing when grasses prevailed but switched to browsing when in the semi-forested winter quarter.
One of his greatest contributions to the study of animal behavior was identifying and naming every individual animal. In his notes, animals were identified by numbers and the more salient ones with names. The technique of individual identification was successively implemented in the following years in the primate groups he studied. This, he suggested would help observe and track social interactions over time.
Individual identification is now standard practice for observational research!
We can also thank him for establishing the Japanese Method. This consists of observing and recording social interactions for prolonged lengths of time. Both individual identification and prolonged research are crucial to gaining familiarity with the subjects of observation allowing for a more detailed analysis of social life.
He also considered closeness and time spent together to be an indicator of the degree of relationships between individuals. This he referred to as ‘neighbourhood’.
In his study, he reflects on the horse community; ‘There is no power, no centrality, just harmony’.
“力 と い う こ と も な い 。 どれ が 中 心 と い う こ と もな い 。 聖 心 を 求 め る と す れ ば”
Imanishi found that groups (bands) of horses shared overlapping home ranges (although he used the term territory) and they shared the range as good neighbours might. He also highlights that within a home range, there are central core areas where the majority of time is spent. This he describes by using the terms ‘bigger world’ or ‘smaller world’.
He also found that band (harem) stallions allowed some bachelors to hang out nearby, on some sort of perimeter, and that these would attempt to attract mares with less social bonds from the group. This is often the case in many feral populations studied. His studies also led him to suggest that horses typically follow the lead of a mare. This too is likely the case in many free-ranging populations, especially those with a heavily skewed sex ratio.
In addition, he emphasized the importance of understanding the cultures within animal societies. He suggested that culture is the product of the accumulated knowledge and behaviors of a society or species that are passed down through generations and shape their adaptation to the environment. For Imanishi, culture played an important role in the evolution and adaptation of a species, and he emphasized the importance of cultural transmission in shaping the behavior of individuals and populations.
An example he used would be dietary preferences, which he considered were not solely based on biological or environmental factors, but also on cultural traditions and learned behaviors. He considered that cultural transmission shaped the feeding habits of animals and challenged the idea that animal behavior was solely determined by instinct or other biological factors. Again, his thoughts on culture in animals other than man were pioneering.
“If individuals learn from one another, their behaviour may, over time, become different from that in other groups, thus creating a characteristic culture.” Kinji Imanish (1952)
The majority of works and studies by Kinji Imanishi were written and published in Japanese. This may likely be the reason he is not as well known as he should be. Another reason could be that many scientists did not pay much attention to work that challenged their long-standing assumptions. Basically, censored by western science gatekeepers. Or simply, Imanishi’s work was too ahead of its time, and many of his ideas only became widely accepted decades later.
In fact, in the following years, his own students amongst other scientists re-vindicated the importance of cultural transmission in animal societies through social learning of feeding habits, tool use, and song. A study on wild chimps (Pan troglodytes) by Toshisada Nishida (1968) found that chimpanzees learned new feeding behaviors from each other and that these food-getting behaviors were passed down to the next generations. The cultural transmission of tool use in captive chimpanzees was studied and confirmed by Yukimaru Sugiyama (1979).
Imanishi’s research and insights have provided valuable knowledge and understanding of animal behavior that has influenced the field of primatology and ethology. His work has contributed to our understanding of the complex social behaviors of primates and the ways in which cultural practices can shape the behavior of different groups of animals.
Further reading:
Imanishi, K., (1953). “Social life of semi-wild horses in Toimisaki. II: Horses in their winter-quarters”. The Annual of Animal Psychology. 3: 11–31. doi:10.2502/janip1944.3.11.
Imanishi, K., (1957). Identification: A process of enculturation in the subhuman society of Macaca fuscata . Primates 1, 1–29.
Nishida, T., (1968). The social group of wild chimpanzees in the Mahali Mountains. Primates 9, 167–224. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01730971
Nishida, T., (1973). The ant-gathering behavior by the use of tools among wild chimpanzees of the Mahali Mountains. J. Hum. Evol., 2: 357–370.
Sugiyama, Y., Koman, J., (1979). Tool-using and -making behavior in wild chimpanzees at Bossou, Guinea. Primates 20, 513–524 https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02373433
Yamagiwa, Juichi (2014). “The Legacy of Kinji Imanishi” (PDF). Kyoto University Research Activities. 3 (4): 4–6.
Ethology - Wild Equus - Horses - Behavior 