Raccoon dogs
Neither raccoon nor dog - welcome to misnomered month!
Happy April! I “missed” April Fools’ Day, but not to worry — here at DoA HQ (aka my couch), we’re celebrating fooling animals all month, starting with the raccoon dog, which is neither raccoon or dog but as cute as both.
Though not raccoon nor dog, they are a part of the candide family which means that they’re more closely related to dogs, wolves, and foxes than some armadillos are to each other, since they’re in two families under the same order (bonus armadillo fact! Ca-ching!). There are two species of raccoon dogs - one that is endemic to Japan (remember this, it will be important), and another from mainland Asia (China, the Koreas, Russia) and is now an invasive species in northern Europe (whoops!).
The Japanese raccoon dog is known locally as tanukis, and the Japanese are very into them. The raccoon-looking Mario? That’s not a raccoon, it’s a tanuki! Fooled you!
There are also folkloreical tanukis, which can shapeshift and bring money with their exaggeratedly giant balls (yes, the ones you think) because those balls look like money bags, obviously. LOGIC. Tanuki totems are often found, looking totally deranged, inside businesses to help them stay in the black.
Their fur is #goals, so much so that it’s sometimes sold as faux fur :( It, along with adding up to 50 percent of their bodyweight in the fall helps them semi-hibernate during the winter (the only candides which hibernate at all). In totally not at all related news, I might be a raccoon dog.
Also #goals? The male brings the female food when she’s pregnant, and helps raise the pups until their ready to venture out on their own. But also, this should be the baseline and not aspirational, am I right or am I right. Dads, be at least as good as raccoon dog dads.
