Yukiko Goto (18), just graduated from Chinen High School last month, has compiled her study on stag beetles into a book titled ‘Stag Beetles in Okinawa – Wonders of Their Ecologic Forms’. Yukiko says ‘I hope many people will pick up this book and learn the wonders of nature’.

Yukiko has been studying about Stag Beetles since she was little. Her dream then was to see all the previously-identified 19 species of stag beetles in Okinawa.

Her first encounter with the stag beetle was when she was in nursery school. ‘My teacher used to take me to a wooded area, where I saw the first stag beetle in my life. I thought it was cool’. After moving to Iriomote with her parents, she began to keep the record of her experiences with stag beetles on her diary. By the time she was in junior high school, She had managed to identify 18 out of the 19 stag beetles, but couldn’t encounter ‘Yonaguni-marubane stag beetle’which was listed as an endangered species. She could see the environmental adversity was something real as she made advances in her study.

She finally succeeded in identifying all the 19 kinds last year, and decided to publish years of her records as a book. 130 copies of ‘Stag Beetles in Okinawa – Wonders of Their Ecologic Forms’ will be displayed at libraries in various locations in Okinawa. The book is not only about stag beetles but also about Yukiko’s growing path.