Raccoon Dog (redirected from Racoon dog)

Raccoon Dog 

(Nyctereutes procyonoides), The body measures 65–80 cm long and the tail, 15–25 cm. The fur is dark brown with long, coarse hairs and a thick underfur. The rac-coon dog is distributed in Southeast Asia (Japan, China, Korea). In the USSR it lives in the Amur and Ussuri regions. It is acclimatized over most of the European part of the USSR and has even penetrated Central Europe. In the Far East it lives in river valleys, in moist meadows, in swamps overgrown with reeds and reedgrass, and on the slopes of wooded hills. The raccoon dog usually digs a burrow; some-times it settles in burrows abandoned by badgers and foxes. It is a nocturnal animal. Its winter sleep is not deep and is discontinuous. The raccoon dog eats animal and vegetable food: in the summer it feeds on frogs, beetles, fish, birds, and rodents and in the autumn, on berries and fallen fruits. Pairing takes place in March. Each litter contains six to eight young. The raccoon dog is detrimental to the hunting industry. There are no hunting limits placed on it. The animal’s fur is used commercially.

REFERENCE

Mlekopitaiushchie Sovetskogo Soiuza, vol. 2, part 1. Edited by V. G. Geptner and N. P. Naumov. Moscow, 1967.

V. G. GEPTNER