Nyctereutes procyonoides
The common raccoon dog, also called the Chinese or Asian raccoon dog to distinguish it from the Japanese raccoon dog, is a heavy-set, fox-like canid native to East Asia. Named for its raccoon-like face markings, it is most closely related to foxes. Common raccoon dogs feed on many animals and plant matter, and are unusual among canids in that they hibernate during cold winters and can climb trees. They are widespread in their native range, and are invasive in Europe where they were introduced for the fur trade. The similar Japanese raccoon dog, native to Japan, is the only other living member of the genus Nyctereutes.

Ryzhkov Sergey · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.
On record
Recorded, not inferred- Also called
- raccoon dogPBDB
- Sits inside
- NyctereutesPBDB
- Diet
- omnivore, carnivorePBDB, for Nyctereutes
- Life habit
- ground dwellingPBDB, for Canidae
- Motility
- actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
- Environment
- terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria
Time the record covers
At most 2.6 million years on record.
Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 2.58 Mya and 0 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.
3 occurrences of Nyctereutes procyonoides on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.
When
3 occurrences- Pleistocene100%
These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.
Nyctereutes procyonoides and its relatives
PleistoceneWhere Nyctereutes procyonoides and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.
Found in the same rock
60 taxa- Cervus3 sites
- Crocuta2 sites
- Mustela2 sites
- Palaeoloxodon naumanni2 sites
- Panthera tigris2 sites
- Ursus arctos2 sites
- Alligator sinensis1 site
- Apodemus1 site
- Balaenidae1 site
- Balaenopteridae1 site
- Bovinae1 site
- Bubalus teilhardi1 site
- Bubalus youngi1 site
- Callorhinus ursinus1 site
- Canidae1 site
- Canis lupus1 site
- Cetacea1 site
- Cricetulus1 site
- Crocidura1 site
- Dermochelys coriacea1 site
- Dymecodon pilirostris1 site
- Elaphurus1 site
- Elaphurus davidianus1 site
- Equus1 site
The Paleobiology Database records 3 sites for Nyctereutes procyonoides, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.
This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.
Entered from
3 references- The first fossil record of a short-finned pilot whale (Globicephala macrorhynchus) from the Penghu Channel1
- Quaternary vertebrates from Shiriya area, Shimokita Pininsula, northeastern Japan1
- Fossil animals discovered in Shenxian [Fairies'] Cave, Lishui County, Jiangsu Province1
Each of the 3 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Each entry links to the Paleobiology Database's own record for the work.
Media and terms
Media content2
Picture of Nyctereutes procyonoides
- Source
- Wikipedia/Commons
- Credit
- Ryzhkov Sergey
- Licence
- CC BY-SA 4.0
- Commercial use
- the licence allows it
3D model
- Source
- Sketchfab
- Licence
- CC Attribution
- Commercial use
- cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.
The description on this site
- Licence
- CC BY-SA 4.0
This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.
Keep going
What may have been alongside itNyctereutes through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on
Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Gray 1834)