looduskalender.ee

 

Raccoon dog pair with male deer at  feeding ground

 

 

The raccoon dog pair has prepared for winter with thick and long coats. Their weight has doubled compared that in summer: if the weight of adult animals then is about 6 kilos, it is around 13 kilos in late summer, due to the stores of fat. The doubled weight makes the animals clumsy and their movements a little comic.

 

By car lights we can see raccoon dogs hunting for easy prey at roadsides during the dark period, but not as often as a few months ago. They keep close to the winter nests or dens. Adult animals move in pairs again from the beginning of October, they spend winter together in their established territory.

 

When snow falls the raccoon dog pair sleeps several days in the den before coming out to reconnoitre. Their winter sleep is very patchy.