Friday

It's a Raccoon, It's a Dog, It's a...What IS it?



"Raccoon," you say, "Ho hum."

It's a wild dog, I say

"But that's not a wild dog....that's a raccoon," you answer.

Ahhh, but wait....check out the animal below.  





"Okay...THAT'S a raccoon!"

So what's that other raccoonishly amazing animal at the top?



It's a Raccoon dog.  No kidding. 

Raccoon dogs are wild dogs that live in Asia.  

And they do some weird things...

   Weird Thing #1:  They can can climb trees!

   Weird Thing #2:  They hibernate...like bears do

   Weird Thing #3:  They can't bark, only growl and whine

   Weird Thing #4:  They eat mice...and pumpkins!

Take a look at the other things they eat:

Notice the Fire-bellied Toad?  (check out my frog posts here)

And the tortoise looks like he'd be a tough nut to crack!  ha ha

Raccoon Dogs and Maned wolves aren't the only strange dogs, or canids, out there.  In the next few posts, we'll explore some more!

Got a question?  Leave me a comment!









1 comment:

Paul Janke said...

July 4, 2015: I saw a raccoon fox very similar to the picture in this article, in Chula Vista, California, just south of San Diego. I live on a hill, in an urban neighborhood, but there are plenty of hills and places to hide for wild life. I have never seen an animal that looks like this before. It was a large grey fox with raccoon markings. Much too large and lanky for a raccoon, but clearly not a typical fox or wolf. For certain, a wild dog of some sort. Your picture is the only one that I could find that looked similar to what I saw. Your article says Asia. Hmmmm... this is not Asia. Should I be telling anyone else about this?