I am writing about that Isle of Dogs movie and I wanted to write 日本の犬の人口. Since it has the character for person in it, I was wondering if it is appropriate for animals. Any help would be appreciated!
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2a) By "population" do you mean "the number of inhabitants" or "a group of inhabitants"? b) Do you want to refer to the population of dogs in the movie, who seems to be able to speak human language, or a population of dogs in the real world?– goldbrickAug 30, 2018 at 13:22
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4 Answers
I think 個体数{こたいすう} is the term that you are looking for. It's also used for counting plant populations. Another term that you could use is 飼育数{しいくすう} as dogs are pets, but this cannot be used for wild animals and strays.
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1個体数 sounds very technical and academic. Depending on the overall formality of the questioner's writing, it could (rather easily) be too big of a word to use.– user4032Aug 30, 2018 at 5:11
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Yes, I understand. Environmental engineers use it in their technical report so you are right. 飼育数 on the other hand means the dogs are pets, so it cannot be used for strays. (In case some dogs in the movie, which I haven't watched btw, are strays.) So can you suggest something else @l'électeur?– DXVAug 30, 2018 at 5:17
Unless you're trying to write in a particularly technical/scientific/formal manner, I would say the safest word choice is simply 日本の犬の数.
人口 isn't generally used for animals. I think of a word 生息数{せいそくすう}. You can say 日本にいる犬の生息数.
answered Aug 30, 2018 at 12:14
I watched the ISLE OF DOGS here. Here I confirmded that dogs are expressed personalized.
Is using 人口 when referencing animal populations alright?
Yes and No.
I recommend that you should express the dogs as 犬族, and 犬族の人口 for the dogs' populations.
族 has various meanings, but one of them has a meaning of an unpublished tribe or an undeveloped race.
So 犬族 could imply the meaning of an unpublished tribe called 犬.
In order to identify the dogs of this movie, expressing them as "犬"族 instead of mere 犬族 is also more effective for personilizing these dogs on this island.
