Tokara horse

The Tokara has a good tolerance for heat and is used for agriculture, riding and sugar cane processing.

In 1953, the Tokara horse was designated a natural monument of Kagoshima Prefecture.

Their numbers gradually declined during the 1960s because of agricultural mechanization, however, and it was difficult to monitor the population on Takarajima.

Kaimon Natural Park and Iriki Farm, part of the agricultural department of Kagoshima University.

A breeding farm is located at Takao, at the center of one of the islands.