📸 PhotoPhoto: Доктор рукиноги · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Common Raccoon Dog
Nyctereutes procyonoides (Common Raccoon Dog · タヌキ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 In winter it sometimes eats food scraps discarded by people, allowing it to live near human neighborhoods.
- 💡 A pre-hibernation maximum weight of 10 kg is half the weight of a 20 kg bag of rice (Comparison).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
Site-computed relative index from recorded values; not a formal scientific metric.
📖 1. Overview
The Common Raccoon Dog is a canid living along forest edges and waterside thickets, native to eastern Siberia, northern China, Korea, and Japan and also introduced to Europe.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
It measures 50–68 cm from head to rump with a 13–25 cm tail, and weighs 4–6 kg in summer and 6–10 kg before winter hibernation.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It is an omnivore that eats insects, rodents, frogs, birds, eggs, fish, plants, and carrion indiscriminately. In cold regions, it hibernates from November to early April.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
It is a native species in Korea listed in the National List of Species of Korea.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List LC (2016) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/14925/85658776
- • IUCN Red List category LC — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • mammaldiversity.org — 1005961
- • iucnredlist.org — 85658776
- • 국가생물종목록(국립생물자원관) ktsn 120000053303 — https://species.nibr.go.kr/home/mainHome.do?cont_link=009&subMenu=009002&contCd=009002&ktsn=120000053303
- • wikidata.org — Q133189
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Енотовидная собака Гродно (cropped 2).jpg
- • animaldiversity.org — Nyctereutes procyonoides
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — author not recorded · Public Domain Mark 1.0
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.