Raccoon dog
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Raccoon dog ( Nyctereutes procyonoides ) |
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| Temminck , 1838 | ||||||||||||
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| Nyctereutes procyonoides | ||||||||||||
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The raccoon dog ( Nyctereutes procyonoides ), also known as Tanuki or Enok , more rarely the fruit fox , is a species from the dog family that , due to convergent evolution, has similarities with martens and small bears , especially with the raccoon , with which it is occasionally confused is not closely related.
features
In appearance, the raccoon dog is similar to the raccoon , but differs in particular in the split face mask. The length of the body of the head of adults is around 50 to 68 centimeters, with a tail 13 to 25 centimeters in addition. With a shoulder height of 20 to 30 centimeters, the raccoon dog reaches a total height of 38 to 51 centimeters and a weight between four and ten kilograms. The soft fur, in trade as the sea fox , is beige-gray on the flanks, on the belly and on the back black-brown. Raccoon dogs are subject to a seasonal change of coat ; the winter fur and the summer fur are similar in color, but the winter fur is significantly thicker and heavier. The vocalizations of raccoon dogs are more like meowing or whining than barking. The pups often give a low squeak and the dams growl when they are in danger. When searching for a partner at night, the male utters long, howling screams.
habitat
The raccoon dog is a very shy and nocturnal inhabitant of forests and regions with a lot of undergrowth. The original range of the raccoon dog includes eastern Siberia , northeastern China and Japan . In Europe he is a new citizen ( neozoon ) who was originally released in order to use the raccoon dog fur economically. Raccoon dogs were introduced to western Russia in the 19th century . Between 1928 and 1950, almost 10,000 animals were released in Ukraine . From there they spread to the western part of the country. The first raccoon dogs appeared in Finland in 1931, in Romania in 1951 and in Poland in 1955 .
The raccoon dog has been spreading in Germany since 1960. In 1962 the first specimen was shot in Börger ( Emsland district ). The raccoon dog is now found all over Germany. Its occurrence in a third of all hunting grounds has been confirmed. The federal states of Brandenburg , Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt represent its core distribution area. Here, evidence was found in 72% of all districts.
In Austria , the first raccoon dog is said to have been sighted in 1954 in Karlstift in the municipality of Bad Großpertholz . After further sightings, the first reliable evidence was found in 1983 when an animal was also trapped in the Lower Austrian Waldviertel . It has firmly established itself primarily in Lower and Upper Austria as well as in northern Burgenland . The evidence piles up towards the Danube. In the mid-1990s it was found that the distribution limit shifted southwards. The spread has been scientifically investigated since 2010. After the first raccoon dog was killed in Vorarlberg in 2014, Tyrol is the only federal state from which no evidence has yet been reported.
In Switzerland , the first record was made in September 1997 near Leuggern in the canton of Aargau . A run over male was found there. In 2003 an adult male was run over by a car in Ajoie , Canton Jura . In February 2009 , an animal was found in the rake of the Klingnau power plant in the canton of Aargau, which presumably drowned in the Aare . At the end of April of the same year, a jogger near Maienfeld in the canton of Graubünden near the border with Liechtenstein discovered a dead raccoon dog, which was apparently torn by a medium-sized dog. In 2011 , a subadult animal was found alive under a parked car in Laufenburg , Canton Aargau. The animal had to be euthanized because of injuries. In April 2015, a live raccoon dog was photographed for the first time in Switzerland on the Bözberg , canton Aargau. There have been a total of ten records of raccoon dogs in Switzerland since 1997. Mostly they are young males who have immigrated from Germany or Austria, sometimes over long distances. There is currently no evidence of reproduction of the raccoon dog in Switzerland.
The raccoon dog appeared for the first time in South Tyrol in 2016 ; it was the second sighting in Italy. A female about one year old who weighed about five kilograms was killed by a car on an expressway.
Way of life
The raccoon dog is monogamous and stays together as a couple for life. Both partners take care of the six to ten puppies on average. The raccoon dog seeks out burrows to protect and raise the young, often taking over old badger or fox burrows. As the only representatives of dogs, raccoon dogs hibernate in areas with harsh winters ; in Finland, for example, they move into their winter caves from around November to March. In mild weather, they occasionally leave their burrow there or even move to another. In areas with mild winters, they are active all year round. Raccoon dogs can survive in areas that have no more than about 175 days of snow; the mean annual temperature should be above one to two degrees Celsius. The roaming areas vary in size, depending on the food supply and climate: in Germany around 150 ha, in Finland between 300 and 700 ha and in Japan around 80 ha. Raccoon dogs are active at twilight and at night, and their life expectancy in the wild is six up to eight years.
nutrition
Raccoon dogs are omnivores : They eat mice , birds, eggs, fish, toads , snails and insects as well as acorns , nuts, berries and fruit. Also Aas they do not disdain. In a 2006 study, 77% of all young animal stomachs were found to be insects and only to a small extent to mammals and bird remains. Well-filled stomachs contained mostly fruit. The proportion of small vertebrates was significantly higher in adult animals; in addition to frogs and toads, mice, shrews and moles were particularly common in the diet. The proportion of carrion ingested was high. Half of the stomachs contained insects. The proportion of plant-based food is particularly high in summer and autumn. The results show that the raccoon dog is not a hunter like the red fox , but rather roams leisurely through its territory, gathering like a badger . It is unable to climb, so it looks for its prey under bushes and often on the waterfront.
Predators and parasites
The natural enemies of raccoon dogs include the lynx , wolf , brown bear and, for young animals, the eagle owl . The fox tapeworm attacks the raccoon dog as a parasite .
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Phylogenetic systematics of dogs
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Systematics and evolution
Around 8 to 12 million years ago, its line split off from the other canids. The ancestors of today's raccoon dog Nyctereutes donnezani lived in all of Europe, another larger species N. sinensis during the Pliocene in China. The first type died out in Europe, while the sinensis nerve survived. It got smaller in the course of evolution and developed into today's raccoon dog.
From Africa, fossils from Tanzania , Morocco and South Africa that are several million years old are known.
In a system of dogs by Lindblad-Toh et al. 2005, which was based on molecular genetic studies, the raccoon dog was included in a group known as the red fox clade and the species of the genus Vulpes as a part of the species of dogs previously summarized as real foxes Sister style faced. Were compared while about 15 kilobases of exon - and intron - sequences . The scoop dog ( Otocyon megalotis ) has been identified as the sister species of these two genera .
Today six subspecies are distinguished in the natural range:
- N. p. procyonoides , east of China, north of Indochina
- N. p. orestes , center of China
- N. p. ussuriensis , Amur Region, Manchuria, introduced to Europe
- N. p. koreensis , Korea
- N. p. viverriensis , Japan
- N. p. albus , Hokkaido
The Japanese subspecies of raccoon dogs separated from those on the mainland after the formation of the Sea of Japan 12,000 years ago. In the course of their evolution they became smaller due to the more favorable conditions, morphology and physiology changed, u. a. also the chromosome number. The Japanese subspecies has 38 chromosomes, N. ussuriensis has 54.
The raccoon dog as a neozoon
While the raccoon dog has become rare in Japan, its number is steadily increasing in Europe. Because such neozoa , which have no natural enemies in the new environment , can bring the ecosystem out of balance, the spread of the raccoon dog is often viewed critically. Above all, it is feared that it could displace breeding bird species in meadows, in coastal protection areas and in caves. So far, however, it has not yet been scientifically proven beyond doubt that a certain animal species is threatened by the spread of the raccoon dog.
The Russian naturalization campaigns affected the Amur and Ussuri valleys and the European parts of the former Soviet Union. About 9,100 animals were released between 1929 and 1955. The first raccoon dogs outside of Russia were seen in Finland in 1930 and in Sweden in 1940. Today the distribution area has extended to Germany, all of Scandinavia and the Balkans.
According to the Bern Convention of 1999, the spread of invasive animal species such as the raccoon dog (in addition to raccoons and mink ) should be strictly controlled. Since 1996 the raccoon dog has been gradually incorporated into hunting law by the individual federal states . Only in Bremen is it currently not subject to hunting law. In 2001/02 11,659 kills were officially registered. In the 2007/08 hunting year, the number of raccoon dogs shot in Germany initially peaked at 35,529. In the same year distemper , a virus infection, caused a massive collapse in the population. The annual route 2010/11 was only 14,670 copies, 10,500 of them in Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania alone. Since then the raccoon dog population has recovered and a total of 27,840 animals were shot in 2015/16, more than half of them in Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania alone. Due to the rapid spread and the high rate of reproduction, it must be observed critically how the raccoon dog's population development affects the native fauna. At the Federal Hunters' Day in 2005, the hunters called for a “national strategy against invasive alien species”.
In Austria, where hunting law is also a matter of the state, the raccoon dog is partially released for shooting all year round. Compared to Germany, the numbers here are minimal, in 2015/16 just 31 specimens were shot, 20 in Lower Austria, 9 in Upper Austria and 2 in Styria.
The transition period for the raccoon dog on the Union list of the European Union ended on February 2, 2019. Specifically, this means that he does not willfully:
- may be brought into the territory of the European Union, not even for transit under customs supervision;
- may be kept, not even for keeping under lock and key;
- may be bred, not even under lock and key;
- to, from, and within the Union, unless the species is transported to facilities in connection with disposal;
- may be placed on the market;
- may be brought for reproduction, rearing or refinement, not even in keeping under lock and key or
- may be released into the environment.
- EU member states wishing to continue these activities must negotiate a permit system with the European Commission before a permit can be issued.
- The raccoon dog was added to the EU list of invasive alien species in 2017 in accordance with the European Commission and the EU member states in accordance with Regulation (EU) No. 1143/2014.
Fur trade
In the fur trade, raccoon dog fur has always been traded under many names, just not raccoon dog fur. The common names are sea fox or tanuki . Not only to the tobacco products, auctions, but also in the wholesale and retail trade is Seefuchsfell continue because of his raccoon-like in parts of appearance with the misleading name Finnraccoon (from Finland), Russian Raccoon or Chinese Raccoon offered (raccoon = Engl. Raccoon). These names are based on the fact that the raccoon dog is also called raccoon dog .
etymology
Because of its resemblance to a raccoon, the raccoon dog is called Raccoon Dog in English ; Even in German one sometimes hears misleading terms such as “Siberian raccoon”.
Japan
In Japanese it is called Tanuki ( 狸 ). In Japanese fables he is one of the main characters alongside Kitsune , the red fox. The raccoon dog appears here as a bakedanuki ( 化 け 狸 ), that is, as a master of disguise and shape change (see Yōkai ). It is so popular that statues depicting raccoon dogs have been built since ancient times. The anime Pom Poko also deals with raccoon dogs. The US animated film Zootopia (English title) and Zoomania (German title) contains a duo of news anchors. A country-specific animal is used for one of these two figures, depending on the country of publication. For the Japanese version of the film, this is the raccoon dog with a leaf on its head.
literature
- Fumiko Y. Yamamoto, Akira Y. Yamamoto: Persistent Themes of Mice and Badgers in Japanese Culture . In: Robert J. Smith, Jerry Stannard: The Folk. Identity, landscape and lores. University of Kansas, Lawrence (Kansas) 1989, ISBN 0-938332-15-5 .
Web links
- Bundesjägertag focuses on raiding dogs (DLF, June 3, 2005)
- Bernhard Scheid: Animal Gods and Messengers of Gods, Part 2. Foxes and Tanuki , in the web manual Religion in Japan , September 20, 2010, University of Vienna
- Frank G. Wörner: Notes on the raccoon dog. A new canide in Germany's wilderness.
- Nyctereutes procyonoides in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2006. Posted by: Sillero-Zubiri & Hoffmann, 2004. Retrieved on 11 May, 2006.
- Peter Burghardt: SZ online: Invasion of the raccoon dogs , accessed on December 29, 2015; as well as "Between Fox and Raccoon", Süddeutsche Zeitung No. 299 of Tuesday, December 29, 2015 p. 8 (HF2) 'Panorama'
Individual evidence
- ^ Encyclopedia of Life
- ↑ a b German Hunting Association: Introduced species are spreading. Retrieved June 8, 2015 .
- ↑ http://www.jagdverband.de/sites/default/files/5106_Presseg Nahrungsmittel_Neozoen_2014_Marderhund_.jpg
- ↑ Kurt de Swaaf: The Enoks come on quiet feet , DerStandard.at, December 21, 2010; The standard December 22, 2010.
- ↑ http://www.kora.ch/index.php?id=249&L=3&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=357&cHash=b6b945faeb1b0b7629b8e032671efc7c
- ^ Raccoon dog proven in Switzerland in naturschutz.ch
- ↑ Jogger discovers raccoon dog ( memento from June 2, 2016 in the Internet Archive ). In: Appenzeller Zeitung . June 4, 2009.
- ↑ a b Fabian Hägler: Photo from Bözberg proves: In Aargau the raccoon dog is loose in the Aargauer Zeitung
- ↑ http://www.kora.ch/index.php?id=214&L=0&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=539&cHash=b69a182ea062839fd910e64dd622ecde
- ↑ http://www.kora.ch/index.php?id=270
- ^ Raccoon dog sightings 1997 to 2014 in Switzerland according to KORA
- ↑ www.stol.it, Ipa: Raccoon dog appeared for the first time in South Tyrol ( Memento from June 15, 2016 in the Internet Archive ).
- ↑ raccoon dog (Enok) profile nature - invasive species - Auf-Jagd.de. January 19, 2016. Retrieved July 26, 2016 .
- ↑ Kaarina Kauhala: Wild Dogs . Ed .: Udo Gansloßer, Claudio Silleo-Zubiri. tape . Filander Verlag, 2006, ISBN 3-930831-63-5 , Der Raccoon Dog, p. 72 ff .
- ↑ a b c Kerstin Lindblad-Toh et al: "Resolving canid phylogeny." Section in: Kerstin Lindblad-Toh et al: Genome sequence, comparative analysis and haplotype structure of the domestic dog. Nature 438, December 2005; Pp. 803-819.
- ↑ a b c d Kaarina Kauhala: Wild dogs . Ed .: Udo Gansloßer, Claudio Silleo-Zubiri. tape . Filander Verlag, 2006, ISBN 3-930831-63-5 , Der Raccoon Dog, p. 69 ff .
- ^ Claudio Sillero-Zubiri: Family Canidae (Dogs). in Don E. Wilson , Russell A. Mittermeier : Handbook of the Mammals of the World - Volume 1 Carnivores. Lynx Editions, 2003, ISBN 978-84-96553-49-1 . Page 436.
- ↑ https://www.jagdverband.de/sites/default/files/2015_jahresjagdstrecke%20Marderhund_13_14.pdf
- ↑ German Hunting Association (DJV) Wildlife Information System of the Federal States of Germany (WILD) Annual Report 2012, p. 12 http://www.jagdverband.de/sites/default/files/WILD%20Bericht%202012.pdf
- ^ Annual route raccoon dog , accessed July 28, 2017.
- ↑ Oberösterreichischer Landesjagdverband - closed season regulation as amended . Retrieved January 16, 2010.
- ↑ Hunting statistics 2015/16 , accessed on July 28, 2017.
- ↑ Invasive Alien Species - End of transition for Finnraccoon . In: Pelzmarkt - Newsletter of the German Fur Association , Frankfurt am Main, March 2019, p. 12.
- ^ Winckelmann Sales Report , Copenhagen , June 29, 2007, Winckelmann-Verlag, Frankfurt / Main
- ↑ UA Casal: The Goblin, Fox and Badger and Other Witch Animals of Japan . In: Asian Folklore Studies , vol. 18, pp. 1–94. ( PDF; 4.9 MB ( Memento from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ))
