What are the raccoon dog breeds? Detailed introduction to selection criteria

1. Breeds

The raccoon dog belongs to the order Carnivora, family Canidae, and is a medium-sized fur animal. According to "Fauna of China" (1987), the raccoon dog in China can be divided into 3 subspecies, namely the nominate subspecies, the Northeast subspecies, and the Southwest subspecies:

① Nominate subspecies: produced in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi and other provinces and regions, body length 50-53cm, short coat, underfur is brownish yellow, guard hairs have fewer black tips, and the black longitudinal stripe on the back is also not obvious.

② Northeast subspecies: produced in Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning and other provinces, body length 56-90cm, long hair and thick underfur, obvious black back stripe, underfur blue-gray or light yellow.

③ Southwest subspecies: produced in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and other provinces, body size noticeably smaller than the Northeast subspecies, close to the nominate subspecies. Underfur sparse, dark gray, guard hairs mostly with black-gray tips, very short.

In addition, according to Kinugawa Yoshio (1941), the raccoon dog in China has 7 subspecies:

① Ussuri raccoon dog: produced in the Greater Khingan Mountains, Changbai Mountains, Sanjiang Plain, North and South Plains and other places; ② Korean raccoon dog: produced in the southern areas of Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning.

③ Amur raccoon dog: produced in the border zone between China and Russia.

④ Jiangxi raccoon dog: produced in Jiangxi and its surrounding provinces.

⑤ Minyue raccoon dog: produced in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Hunan, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Anhui, Jiangxi and other provinces.

⑥ Hubei raccoon dog: produced in Hubei, Sichuan and other provinces.

⑦ Yunnan raccoon dog: produced in Yunnan and its surrounding provinces.

At present, the one artificially raised in China with relatively high economic value is the Northeast subspecies, that is, mainly the Ussuri raccoon dog, as well as the Korean raccoon dog and the Amur raccoon dog.

2. Body shape and appearance of the Ussuri raccoon dog

The body shape resembles a fox, but it is fatter, shorter and stouter, with a short tail and short, small limbs. The coat is long and fluffy, and the underfur is thick. Digitigrade, walking on its toes. Both forelimbs and hindlimbs have well-developed foot pads. Claws are short and thick, and cannot retract. The coat is usually blue-gray or blue-yellow, the muzzle is short and pointed, the cheeks have light-colored long hairs growing sideways, and dark brown coat grows from around the eyes to the lower jaw, forming an obvious "eight" shape, and connects through the throat and front chest to the forelimbs. The guard hairs along the center of the back ridge mostly have black tips, forming to varying degrees a black longitudinal stripe with unclear boundaries, extending backward to the back of the tail, and the closer to the end of the tail, the deeper the longitudinal stripe. The hair color on the back is darker, appearing blue-gray; the coat on the sides near the abdomen is gray-yellow or brown-yellow; the hair color on the abdomen is the lightest, appearing gray-white or yellow-white; the hair color on the limbs is darker, appearing black or dark brown.

Adult male raccoon dog weight 5.5-8.0kg, body length 58-67cm, body height 28-38cm; adult female raccoon dog weight 5.3-7.5kg, body length 57-65cm, body height 25-35cm.

The Institute of Special Animal and Plant Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, using the mutant white gene in wild hair color (common color type), after 16 years of research, finally successfully bred our existing new color-type white raccoon dog, the Jilin white raccoon dog. The new color-type white raccoon dog has two phenotypes: one is that except for the eye rims, ear edges, nose tip, claws and tail tip, which still retain the wild-type hair color, the guard hairs and down hairs on all other parts of the body are pure white; the other is that the guard hairs and down hairs on all parts of the body are pure white. The two white raccoon dogs are the same as the wild-type raccoon dog in body shape, appearance, habits, reproductive capacity, etc., with a gentle temperament, prone to obesity, and relatively large body weight. The hair color of both white raccoon dogs is attractive, and the fur produced is much favored by domestic and foreign merchants, with a selling price higher than that of wild-type hair color fur.

3. Standards for each Ussuri raccoon dog

① Fur quality: guard hairs black, dense, evenly distributed, even, no white guard hairs, hair length 8-9cm; down hairs blue-gray, dense, even and evenly distributed, length 5-6cm. Small difference between back and belly hair, coat glossy.

② Body size: at weaning, weight >1.4kg, body length >40cm; at 5 months of age, weight >5.0kg, body length >60cm; adult raccoon dog (11-12 months) weight >6.0kg, body length >65cm. Requires large body size, loose skin, large and spirited eyes, strong limbs, healthy body, and no disease.

③ Reproductive capacity: adult male raccoon dog mating capacity more than 10 times, making the mating rate of mated female raccoon dogs high, with more than 10 cubs per litter; adult female raccoon dog required to come into estrus in early March, with more than 8 cubs surviving per litter; young raccoon dogs of the year should be selected from litters with more than 5 cubs, with good growth and development, normal external genitalia, and more than 4 pairs of effective teats. Male-to-female ratio 1:2-3.