810-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 8,1986 Hiding behind deceptive black masks, two raccoon dogs prowl in Japan, raised on farms in Finland; their coats sell for as much as $5,000 in New York. Although they look and act must like raccoons, they are actually members of the American scientists are studying the Japanese raccoon dog's habits and a canine family. Wild raccoon dogs range from the tropics to Siberia. Others are genetic makeup that sets it apart from the rest. HANOVER, NH - From the side, it looks like a short, pudgy dog with pointy ears and nose and salt-and-pepper coat. Face to face, it’s pure raccoon. Its black face mask is one reason the animal is known to Western scientists the few who study it as the raccoon dog. And although it’s a member of the Canidae, or dog, family, some of its habits are uncannily raccoonlike. In Japan, one of its native lands, it’s more folk hero than canid. The Japanese believe raccoon dogs, BLACK REP Yellow BLUE BROWN BALLOOhIS: SEPT. /9 t /793 T//EMOP73OCF/ER BROTHERS OF FRANCE LPOHCHEDTHE FIRSTBfiUOOH.ITH/ASMADE OFLIHEHPNP U/AS OPEHPT THE BOTTOMJBPPSSEH’ CjERS U/EREF) ROOSTER, F) SHEER PROP PUCP. THE Popes? u/ere loosened PRO THE BPUOON POSE. /TCPME DOIHpCUHEHTHE HOTP/R COOLED. Raccoon or dog? Scientists ponder animals' identity which they call tanukis, to be crafty and magical, able to vanish and reappear in different forms. Prowl by Night The Japanese say tanukis revel by the light of the new moon, and they may be right. Raccoon dogs are mostly nocturnal, and until recently no one knew much about their activities at night—or during the day. Two American scientists, Dr. Doris Wurster-Hill of Dart mouth College and Dr. Oscar Ward of the University of Arizona, have spent months trailing the raccoon LT. GREY GREEK! LT BROWN) LT. BLUE LT. GREEK) dog, but a host of curiosities remain; • Although the raccoon dog is definitely considered a dog, it doesn’t act much like one. It is most active at night; is partial to river valleys and lakes (as are raccoons); devours nuts, berries, and fish but will raid garbage cans; climbs fences rather than jumps them; and doesn’t bark. When retreating, however, it often steals a backward glance at its pursuer, in the manner of a coyote. And in winter, it dens up for o S) Uy 8 , semihibernation, somewhat like a bear. • Raccoon dogs can live almost anywhere, from tropical rain forests to Siberia. Yet no one knows their actual range today. Native to Southeast Asia, China, and the Soviet Union, they were introduced by the thousands in the 1920 s to Eastern Europe and Finland as fur bearers. (Raccoon dog coats are still sold, sometimes as “Asiatic raccoon.”) In recent years, individual raccoon dogs have been sighted as far south as 4 (P s