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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2018-08-30T03:52:03.550
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question
word-choice usage word-requests
Is using 人口 when referencing animal populations alright?
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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2018-08-30T04:09:59.223
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I watched the ISLE OF DOGS
[here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dt__kig8PVU). 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族 has various meanings, but one of them has a meaning of an unpublished tribe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So 犬族 could imply the meaning of an unpublished tribe called 犬.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.

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dt__kig8PVU>
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2018-08-30T10:27:19.067
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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.
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2018-08-30T12:14:58.430
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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.
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answer