* Description: The Ryukyu damselfly is a sturdy, brightly colored insect. At 51-65 mm long, it is large for a damselfly. Males have brilliant electric-blue bodies and two pairs of dark-blue wings ...

Japan's Ryukyu Islands, which includes Okinawa, are the exclusive home to two rare mammals, the Amami rabbit and Ryukyu long-furred rat. These animals are hard to observe, but conservationists ...

In Japanese, Ryukyu means "a jewel floating in the sky”. As back as 607 AD, there were official records of contacts between China’s Sui Dynasty and Ryukyu.