The raccoon dog as a pet

The raccoon dog, better known as Nursery dog ​​or Tanuki It is an animal of Asian origin that resides in China and Japan.Its scientific name is: Nyctereutes procyonoides .

It is a very old breed, but until recently there has been no interest for domesticate it as a pet.It is considered as an invasive species in many countries.For example, in Spain it is prohibited as a pet, as well as its trade or introduction into nature.

Even if it were tendered its Tenure, I would never advise adopting a Tanuki as a pet.If you continue reading Animals and Pets Online, I will explain the arguments that support my opinion.And I believe you will convince yourself that it is not sensible to have the raccoon dog as a pet .Then I explain why:

Tanuki, the ancestral dog

The Tanuki is the oldest breed of wild dogs on the planet, leaving aside its morphology that reminds the naked eye more of a raccoon that to any dog, it is their habits that make it too difficult for them to live alongside the human being.

Their customs are more like a badger or a fox than any breed of dog.They are twilight and nocturnal , that is to say that their active periods occur at dusk and throughout the night, sleeping hidden during the day in their underground burrows.

Tanuki, the dog that hibernates

The raccoon dog is the the only hibernating canary .During spring and summer it acquires fat to face the winter.The appearance of the viverrino dog looks a lot like , especially in the appearance of his face, to a raccoon.However, they have nothing to do with them.They have very long and dense hair, with reddish-grayish marbled colors.

Like the vast majority of Canidos enjoys a double hair .A woolly first layer of a matt gray color.The upper layer is very colorful, and the reason why the Tanuki extended from Japan to Europe.

If you look closely at a Tanuki hair, you can clearly see that it has several perfectly segmented colors.The root is gray, the same color as its lower wool, then comes the dominant color of the hair shaft, which is usually of a pastel orange.Then, in the last third, it is a bright black color, except at the tip that is a white ivory.

The expansion of Tanuki

Tanuki is originally from Japan, and it is not uncommon to find them swarming Japanese urban outskirts in search of garbage. Tanuki is omnivorous and this is one of the reasons why which is not in danger of extinction, quite the opposite.

In the past decade of the 40s of the twentieth century, the tanuki began to be imported from Japan to Europe to assemble farms destined for fur.Many animals escaped from farms located in the former Soviet Union, Scandinavian Countries, Poland, Germany and other Central European countries.

Currently in all these places the nursery dog ​​ It has become an invasive species..With the aggravating fact that European tanukis are almost twice as large as the Japanese.

The tanuki mascot

Similar to foxes, the raccoon dog's expectations as a pet are very weak.This is a very fearful animal , elusive and nocturnal, that remains petrified by the fear when the lights of a vehicle focus on it.In Japan many of them die on the roads every year.

I consider that when after thousands of years a frequent animal has not been tamed by man, is that there are solid and multiple reasons for not having done so.

Customs of wild tanuki

The wild viverrino dog is monogamous. It is not a violent animal in any circumstance .He likes to live in small groups in wooded areas, in very sheltered burrows.During the spring the females give birth to 5-7 puppies, which are cared for by the parents while the females take care of hunting.

Being omnivorous they devour anything: birds, rodents, reptiles, berries, fruits or agricultural plants, carrona, garbage, and a long etcetera.In the Japanese culture the Tanuki are very present in their mythology, being considered animals that carry good luck .

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