What is a racoon dog????

[lorie d.]

On TV recently they've been talking about the different ways COVID might have originated. One of the ways mentioned is that COVID might have been passed from racoon dogs in China to people. Then they showed a picture of an animal that looks like a regular racoon. So do these animals actually exist?

 

[GranolaLouise]

Common raccoon dog - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[lorie d.]

Thanks for the information it's really interesting.

 

[Norachan]

So do these animals actually exist?

Yes, they do. They're called Tanuki in Japan. There are loads of them living wild in the woods near where I live. They're smaller than racoons, have a shorter tail that is just brown rather than striped and have paws like a dog or fox. Racoons have paws that are more like monkey's hands.