Misaki Horses, Cape Toi, Japan

Misaki horses grazing a grassy ridge on Cape Toi, the subtropical headland at the southern tip of Miyazaki Prefecture on Kyushu. Small, dark and fine-boned, they are one of Japan's few remaining native horse types. Their story starts with a feudal lord: the Takanabe domain kept horses on the cape from the late 1600s and let them live outdoors year-round. That loose, hands-off management continues today. Japan designated the horses and their habitat a natural monument in 1953, and the herd numbers under a hundred, so every animal on these slopes counts.