Raccoon dog

Raccoon Dogs

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• published: 30 Mar 2016
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The diminutive raccoon dog is highy adaptable, able to survive both warm summers and the harshest winters, and a remarkably successful breeder. This endearing creature, shrouded in Japanese myth, was introduced to the Ukraine by fur-trappers around 80 years ago, eager to boost their income. its fur has lost its value now, and the raccoon dog has been left to colonize Europe. Versatile and dynamic, the only obstacle in its path is humans, who now consider the raccoon dog a pest. The raccoon dog also known as the mangut or tanuki, is a canid indigenous to East Asia. It is the only extant species in the genus Nyctereutes. It is considered a basal canid species, resembling ancestral forms of the family. Among the Canidae, the raccoon dog shares the habit of regularly climbing trees only with the North American gray fox, another basal species. The raccoon dog is named for its superficial resemblance to the raccoon, to which it is not closely related. Native East Asian raccoon dog populations have declined in recent years due to hunting, fur trade, urbanization, an increase of animals associated with human civilization such as pets and abandoned animals, and diseases that may be transmitted between them. Following its introduction into central and western Europe, however, it has been treated as a potentially hazardous invasive species.