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The story
Hirosaki University announced on its official X account on September 2 that the rare “Mizura Mole,” sometimes called the “phantom mole,” had been discovered in the Shirakami Mountains, which straddle Aomori and Akita prefectures. On the 5ch Science News+ board, the creature’s round, fluffy fur sparked reactions like “it looks even more like a stuffed animal than I expected” and “like a scrub brush with legs stuck on.” At the same time, a string of comments criticized the reporting stance of HuffPost, the article’s source, so the discussion spread beyond the animal’s cuteness into media criticism.
Elusive “Mizura Mole” discovered in the Shirakami Mountains → Huge reaction as it’s “too much like a stuffed animal”
The “Mizura Mole,” also known as the “phantom mole,” has been discovered in the Shirakami Mountains, and it’s become a hot topic.
Hirosaki University updated its official X account on September 2, reporting that the “Mizura Mole,” also called the “phantom mole,” had been discovered in the Shirakami Mountains spanning northwestern Akita and southwestern Aomori prefectures — and the news has become a hot topic.
Source: huffingtonpost.jp / Original article here
What people said
For threads like this, the OP should just attach the images themselves
The reporter on this board is usually pretty conscientious about how they put threads together,
but for some reason they never attach image links
That fur is definitely 100% polyester
Dungan Kasakuyan Indumu (a nonsense chant; meaning unclear)
Wait, are you saying the mole and the loops of a mizura hairstyle bun are the same size?
How did you even arrive at that idea
But also, it's fine to be a little let down that "mizura" turns out to be Japanese and not Latin… it's a species found only in Japan anyway
They're not poaching the protected hermit crabs to eat them — they're doing it to resell them, you know?
Background and Talking Points
The Shirakami Mountains, known for their old-growth beech forests along the Aomori-Akita border, were registered as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site in 1993. The Mizura Mole gets its name because its fur pattern evokes “mizura,” the looped hairstyle worn in ancient Japan; it’s a species found only in Japan, and because it lives underground, sightings are rare, earning it the nickname “phantom mole.” What divided opinion in the thread wasn’t the discovery itself but the credibility of the source outlet — despite being a story about an adorable animal, the discussion repeatedly veered into criticism of the reporting outlet’s stance. There were also some posters who mistakenly assumed the name came from a foreign language, but it’s worth noting that “mizura” is in fact a native Japanese term drawn from an old hairstyle name.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Science News+) thread “[Trending] Elusive “Mizura Mole” Discovered in the Shirakami Mountains → Huge Reaction as It’s “Too Much Like a Stuffed Animal”.”
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