MONTHLY NEWS
June 2002

10-Year-Old "Dragonfly Professor" Leads Conservation Effort

This spring, nature conservationists in Japan were delighted to hear news that two types of rare dragonfly nymphs were found in Tokyo. Experts were surprised because the ao-yanma dragonfly (zoological name: Aeschnophlebia longistigma Selys) hadn't been seen in urban Tokyo for years, and the omonosashi dragonfly (Copera tokyoensis) is an even rarer species on the brink of extinction. But even more surprising was that all the nymphs had been discovered by a 10-year-old boy, Yasuaki Fukao, who adults call the "Dragonfly Professor."

For a fifth grader, Yasuaki carries an impressive business card that says he is a member of the Japanese Society for Odonatology (the study of insects like dragonflies), the Tokyo Zoological Park Society, the Nature Conservation Society of Japan, and the Mizumoto Nature Observation Club. But he sure deserves these titles, because Yasuaki single-handedly found 15 omonosashi nymphs on the shores of the large water-lily pond in Mizumoto Park, near his home.

"Kuro-ito (Cercion calamorum), aomon-ito (Ischnura senegalensis) and ajia-ito (Ischnura asiatica) dragonflies are the regular species found in the water lily pond. Ao-yanma and omonosashi nymphs are mixed up with the regulars, and that makes them hard to spot and capture," the young 'Dragonfly Professor' explains. You have to look for the special features of each species, he says. "Omonosashi nymphs have hairy tail gills as large as their bodies. They stick out their tail gills above the water to breath, keeping the body at about a 45 degree angle and tail gills straight at a 90 degree angle from the body."

"He has a special eye for dragonflies," says Koichi Nakajima, Yasuaki's 48-year-old mentor and a fellow member of the Japanese Society for Odonatology. "His powers of observation and concentration amaze me. He searches meticulously and discovers nymphs in locations where adults couldn't find anything." Yasuaki is making a significant contribution to the mission to save the omonosashi, an endangered species listed in the Ministry of the Environment's Red Data Book, Mr. Nakajima says.

Yasuaki was captivated by dragonflies two years ago, when he brought home about 10 dragonfly nymphs from the school pool, which eventually emerged from their nymphal skins and flew around his room. "The marutan-yanma (Anaciaeschna martini) has emerald green eyes, and the yabu-yanma (Polycanthagyna melanictera) has deep blue eyes. Dragonflies are beautiful and they can also fly real fast," he says happily. Every day after school, Yasuaki stops off at home to pick up his tools - a net, a picture book on insects, a bucket, and a couple of specimens - hops onto his bicycle, and goes straight to the park.

Yasuaki has been fond of insects since he was a toddler, his mother recalls. "One winter, he brought home praying mantis eggs and forgot about them, so in springtime we had baby praying mantises all over the house!" she says. Yasuaki dreams of becoming an entimologist (a person who studies insects) and building a biotope - an artificial environment created for local plants, animals, fish, and insects. His mother, meanwhile, would also like him to study other things and socialize more with kids his own age. "To enrich his knowledge of dragonflies, he needs to learn more about other things as well," she says. No doubt Yasuaki will do those things eventually. But for now, he's off to the park in search of his next rare find.

Photos: (Top) Yasuaki with specimens of dragonflies; (second) Yasuaki in Mizumoto Park (both Asahi Shogakusei Shimbun); (third) An ao-yanma dragonfly nymph; (bottom) Yasuaki holds an ao-yanma nymph (Satomi Fukao).