Professor of KuzeyDoğa Association, professor of Utah and Koç Universities. Dr. Cagan Sekercioglu, a new mammal species for Turkey Sarıkamış forests announced they have discovered the raccoon dog. There are also studies that the raccoon dog is one of the species that carries the corona virus to humans.
WHAT IS RACCOON DOG?
The raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides), also known as Enok, resembles a hybrid of a canine (Canidae) family with a mixture of a raccoon and a dog. For this reason, although it has been accepted that it is the most primitive species of the canine family for a long time, and that it forms the connection between canines and raccoons, today it is known that the raccoon dog is officially a canine and subsequently developed its appearance similar to raccoons or martens.
Where does the racoon dog live?
The natural spread of the raccoon dog is in the east of Siberia, northeastern China and Japan. However, in the 19th century, it was brought to the European part of Russia for fur production and started to be raised, but they found that the raccoon dog developed the winter coat, which is valuable for fur production only while living free. Therefore, a total of around 10,000 raccoon dogs have been released in Ukraine between 1928 and 1950. Thus, the raccoon dog began to spread westward by itself. It reached Finland in 1931, Romania in 1951, Poland in 1955 and Germany in 1960. It has been reported that it has been observed in France and Italy in recent years. In Turkey in 2019 in the border town of Kars and Sarıkamış Allahu Akbar Mountains of the raccoon dog it has been observed for the first time.