Pokémon Donates 20 Million Yen from Pokémon Ecology Handbook to Fund Wildlife Research

The Pokémon Company has announced a donation of 20 million yen from royalties of the Pokémon Ecology Handbook to support animal behavioral ecology research in Japan. The funds will be directed to the "Bilogging Support Fund," which backs long-term research using bilogging—a technique in which small measurement devices are attached to wild animals to study their natural behavior and movements.

The Pokémon Ecology Handbook, released in June 2025, presents the fictional ecosystems of Pokémon creatures through the lens of real-world behavioral ecology. The book has achieved significant commercial and critical success, surpassing 800,000 copies in cumulative sales. It was named a 2025 annual bestseller, featured in the Nikkei MJ Hit Products rankings, and ranked first in the children's book category in the first half of 2026 bestseller rankings.

The donation represents a continuation of the book's core philosophy—to enrich both the virtual and real worlds through Pokémon. The book's creator and illustrator, Yoshinari Yonehara and Chihiro Kinoshita, both conducted doctoral research at Tokyo University's Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, specializing in bilogging studies of animal behavior. The knowledge they gained from their research directly informed the handbook's content. By returning a portion of the book's profits to the University of Tokyo's Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute's Behavioral Ecology Measurement Group, Pokémon aims to advance fundamental research in behavioral ecology and animal studies in Japan.