This article is reprinted with permission from "Museum" (WeChat ID: bowuzazhi).
According to our years of experience, there can be ten thousand reasons why people don't like a certain animal. But if you like some kind of animal, there is only one reason, and that is cuteness.
For example, red pandas, badgers, raccoons, raccoons, and civets are all cute.
Protagonist of the week: A raccoon with a grievance face
Image courtesy of wikipedia
First of all, who is the raccoon?
Let's start with a question – can you tell the difference between the 5 species mentioned above: red pandas, badgers, raccoons, and civets?
Is it recognizable to look at the face and tail?
It doesn't matter if you look dizzy.
Read the following carefully, and the next time you see any of the five, you'll be able to tell:
NO.1 Red panda
Belonging to the carnivorous red panda family, it is best recognized because it is the only of the five animals with a bit of orange or brownish red on its body. On the furry tail, there are also "printed" dark and shallow rings.
NO.2 Badger
Belonging to the carnivorous mustela family, it has a pink " pig nose " , which is the origin of its name. The base of the badger's tail is as light gray as the body, and it transitions to white at the tip of the tail.
NO.3 貉
Belonging to the carnivorous canine family, it looks unremarkable compared to the appearance of the other four animals, has no obvious features, and the black "eye mask" is also a faint color, but the hairs on the tail are scattered.
NO.4 Raccoons
Belonging to the carnivorous raccoon family, it has a black longitudinal stripe on the eyebrow and a black and white ring on the tail. The raccoon is the only one of these five species that is not distributed in Asia and is native to North America, so the chances of you seeing a raccoon in the wild in China are almost zero.
NO.5 Civets
Belonging to the carnivorous cat family, a white longitudinal stripe on the eyebrow reaches the tip of the pink nose, and the hairs on the tail are short and slender.
Seeing this, I believe that you already know the method of distinguishing these five cute things. So next, the exam !!!
May I ask: Does the animal name and the picture in the picture below correspond? If it does not correspond, the animal in the picture should be _____.
Why do raccoons wash food?
Okay, now that we've sorted them out, let's get back to today's protagonist, the raccoon.
Speaking of raccoons, I think it's worth explaining to you the origin of its name – raccoons get their name because they used to wash their food before eating. However, this is not because they love to be clean, but because they have average eyesight, the tactile nerves on their hands are particularly developed, and the number of tactile nerves is several times that of humans. When the paws are moistened with water, the sensation becomes more sensitive.
Therefore, the sense of touch is equivalent to another pair of eyes of a raccoon, which can "see" with the hand whether the food can be eaten. It's a bit like when we see delicious food, we smell it with our nose, and it's often full of color and flavor.
Raccoon wash marshmallows
It's a sad story, washed away the loneliness...
Many animals have a magical "sixth sense", such as some birds with long beak surfaces, which have developed nerves, and even without looking at them, they can know whether the mouth is food or stone.
Killer whales, for example, also rely on sound and receive reflected sound waves to draw a "sound map".
We Dai Sheng have this "sixth sense"
See watermark for image source
Whatever you eat, never be picky
Native to North and Central America, the raccoon is a highly adaptable species. They are omnivores and opportunistic predators, in other words, what they eat and are never picky eaters.
Don't show your teeth, you're still a little cute
Raccoons living in the wilderness will find the fruits of plants to eat, and they will also dig up bird eggs, catch insects, catch small fish, catch frogs, and even kill small mice.
Raccoons, who inhabit the city, will rummag through the garbage cans for food, and even enter people's homes to steal, rob or even grab food.
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If it's just bravery, raccoons may not be enough to gain a foothold in the city.
Studies have shown that they also have super orientation perception and spatial memory ability, where there is a garbage can near your home to eat, where there is a water source to wash food, where there is a cave suitable for nesting, maybe it knows better than you.
A raccoon rummaging through the trash can
Super adaptability, which helps raccoons spread and invade other places.
In the 1920s, raccoons were introduced to Germany as hunting animals and released into the wild. In the middle of the last century, they were also introduced to Russia as fur animals, and even released into the wild with the responsibility of "improving animal populations". With their super adaptability, raccoons have gradually established stable wild populations in Germany and Russia, and their numbers in Germany have soared.
Multiply the number of raccoons caught by one hundred and divide by the number of hunting licenses, in other words, the average number of raccoons that can be caught by everyone with a hunting license has increased
There are few natural predators, and raccoons multiply in large numbers and spread rapidly.
Today, at least 27 countries have reported wild raccoons, and they have even established stable breeding populations in many more countries.
Slash area: Raccoon invasion range in 1984
Shades of gray: Raccoon range in 2014
Another study also predicted suitable habitats for raccoons in Europe by 2050, based on existing European raccoon distribution sites and climate data.
Purple dot: An existing raccoon distribution site
Dark blue area: Predicted area suitable for raccoons in 2050
One might ask, can raccoons survive the wet and cold winters of Europe?
First of all, the raccoon origin - Canada and the United States is not warm in winter!
Secondly, there has been such a scary news recently. When Vietnamese workers opened the box on September 29 this year, they found a mess inside, but soon identified the killer, a raccoon. It somehow ran inside the cargo box and spent 35 days drifting across the ocean in a low temperature of minus 18 ° C.
Want to raise raccoons? Don't even think about it
Seeing this, I guess someone will say: "Raccoons are so cute, spreading will come." "Raccoons are also too cute, right?" I'm going to get one!" Just raise! ”
I advise you not to think about it.
First, it will tickle you.
Second, raccoons may also be hosts of certain zoonotic diseases, spreading and infecting pathogens. For example, raccoons are carriers of the rabies virus. In 2015, Canadian epidemiologists detected rabies virus in wild raccoons, and raccoons carrying rabies viruses even chased after domestic dogs to fight.
Raccoons scratch you without mercy
For example, in some parts of Canada, another contagious virus, canine distemper, has been circulating among raccoons. The virus attacks the raccoon's nervous system, and when infected, the raccoon becomes sloppy or fearless.
"Raccoon who slips the door to pry the lock"
Canine distemper viruses do not transmit to humans, but they can transmit to domestic dogs, wolves, foxes, and other mammals. This reminds me that at the end of the last century, in the East African steppes, 1/3 of lions died of canine distemper. Scientists traced back to the source and found that the canine distemper virus of the pandemic came from domestic dogs, which transmitted the virus to spotted hyenas, and spotted hyenas in turn infected lions.
Therefore, although the raccoon is cute, don't be deceived by the appearance, just suck it online.
Cuteness is real, and danger is also real
Key References:
Salgado, Iván. Is the raccoon ( Procyon lotor ) out of control in Europe? [J]. Biodiversity & Conservation, 2018.
Louppe V , Leroy B , Herrel A , et al. Current and future climatic regions favourable for a globally introduced wild carnivore, the raccoon Procyon lotor[J]. entific Reports, 2019, 9(1).
Written by | Wu Haifeng
WeChat Editor | glad
Source: Museum
Edit: dogcraft