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Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff

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Speaker 1: Lauren Bogelbaum here. In June of nineteen, a couple in

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Speaker 1: a small village in Nottinghamshire, Great Britain, woke at four

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Speaker 1: am to an eerie sound. They ventured out and discovered

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Speaker 1: an animal that had never seen before, hissing and attacking

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Speaker 1: a goat on their farm. After rescuing the goat, they

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Speaker 1: took a photo of the beast and promptly posted it online.

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Speaker 1: The animal was four legged and fluffy. It moved like

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Speaker 1: a dog, but had a face and markings like a raccoon.

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Speaker 1: It turns out their unwanted visitor was a tanuki, sometimes

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Speaker 1: called a raccoon dog. To learn more about these unusual critters,

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Speaker 1: we talked by an email to Jennifer Andrew, a member

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Speaker 1: of the carnivore team at Zoo Atlanta. She helps take

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Speaker 1: care of Zoo Atlanta's to Tanuki, Thor and Loki. Zoo

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Speaker 1: Atlanta is just one of two zoos in the United

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Speaker 1: States that houses tanuki. The other is the home a

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Speaker 1: City Zoo. Andrew explained Tanuki are dogs. Genetically and morphologically speaking,

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Speaker 1: they get the nickname raccoon dog. Primarily because of their

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Speaker 1: similar coloring and coat patterns. The only other true similarity

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Speaker 1: to raccoons is that they occupy the same niche as

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Speaker 1: raccoons do in nature, even though they live on different continents.

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Speaker 1: Tanuki range in size from about one point five to

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Speaker 1: two ft long that's about point four five to point

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Speaker 1: nine meters, with a tail adding another six inches or

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Speaker 1: one point five meters. They wait anywhere from eight to

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Speaker 1: twenty two pounds around three and a half to ten kilos.

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Speaker 1: Their fur can be golden gray to reddish brown, but

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Speaker 1: their shoulders, legs, and the tips of their tails are black,

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Speaker 1: and their facial markings are similar to a raccoons, including

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Speaker 1: the black mask around the eyes. They're originally from Eastern Asia,

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Speaker 1: including Japan, which is where the word tanuki comes from

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Speaker 1: and where the animal is a cultural icon. Images of

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Speaker 1: tanuki have appeared in everything from folklore and literature to

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Speaker 1: anime and advertising. The mythological versions, sometimes called bucket tanuki,

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Speaker 1: are spirit creatures, tricksters, and shape shifters that love gold,

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Speaker 1: and are often depicted with a big belly and a

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Speaker 1: particularly large scrotum. Many modern Japanese businesses display statues of

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Speaker 1: tanuki to represent prosperity and good luck. Tanuki, the animals,

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Speaker 1: not the spirits, were brought to northern and eastern Europe

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Speaker 1: due to fur farming back in the nineteen twenties. It's

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Speaker 1: believed some tanuki managed to escape and began to live

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Speaker 1: and breed in that region. The habitat they're most comfortable

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Speaker 1: living in would typically be described as forested, everything from

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Speaker 1: deciduous trees to evergreens, but they can live in urban

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Speaker 1: and coastal areas. They like living near water when they're

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Speaker 1: in the wild, Tanuki aren't too picky about meals. As foragers,

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Speaker 1: they'll eat anything from frogs, birds, and rats to berries

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Speaker 1: and carrion that is ved animals. Tanuki have also been

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Speaker 1: known to for rirging garbage cans or pick over road

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Speaker 1: kill in areas inhabited by humans. But zoo life is

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Speaker 1: a little different. Not only are tanuki given different food

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Speaker 1: to eat, including kibble, hard boiled eggs, veggies, and fish,

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Speaker 1: but because they're naturally foragers in a non foraging setting,

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Speaker 1: their caregivers look for ways to make feeding time a

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Speaker 1: little more challenging, Andrew said, but we like to scatter

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Speaker 1: their diet throughout their habitats to encourage natural foraging behaviors.

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Speaker 1: They also enjoy interacting with problem solving enrichment devices that

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Speaker 1: encourage behaviors such as biting, chewing, ripping or shredding, smelling, digging,

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Speaker 1: and dragging. Tanuki in the wild, especially those living in

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Speaker 1: climates with harsh winters, can enter a state called torpor.

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Speaker 1: During torpor, tanuki conserves energy by reducing their activity, and

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Speaker 1: thus can survive on little or no food for days

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Speaker 1: or weeks. Andrew said, if weather is mild, tanuki may

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Speaker 1: wake for short periods of time to forage, but otherwise

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Speaker 1: they're at ativity level is significantly less during torpor. Severity

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Speaker 1: of torpor behaviors is also dependent on how well the

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Speaker 1: tanuki faired during the fall when they entered hyperphasia. Hyperphasia

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Speaker 1: is when an animal's appetite increases in response to an

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Speaker 1: environmental or biological que In this case, tanuki enter hyperphasia

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Speaker 1: in the late summer or early fall. They consume more food,

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Speaker 1: gain weight, and grow their winter coats in preparation for

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Speaker 1: the winter ahead. Andrew says tanuki living in captivity also

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Speaker 1: go through torpor, but the activity level and dietary needs vary.

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Speaker 1: Depending on where they live and how harsh the weather is.

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Speaker 1: She added, we even see behavioral differences between individuals. Thor

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Speaker 1: always seems to undergo torpor more deeply than Loki, even

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Speaker 1: when winters are milder. Both Loki and Thor will usually

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Speaker 1: get up once a day during torpor to check their

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Speaker 1: territories and have a small bite to eat before returning

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Speaker 1: to their preferred resting location, which can change from day

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Speaker 1: to day. Andrew is quick to point out that tanuki

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Speaker 1: are wild animals and despite appearances, they aren't much like dogs.

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Speaker 1: She said, Tanuki eat a varying diet, including raw meat,

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Speaker 1: are naturally skittish, are very stinky, and have other needs

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Speaker 1: that generally can't be met in a human household. They're

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Speaker 1: also classified as an invasive species in the United States

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Speaker 1: and throughout the European Union, so it would be illegal

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Speaker 1: to keep one as a pet. However, she describes the

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Speaker 1: atlantis tanuki littermates and brothers thorin Loki as fun guys

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Speaker 1: to work with. She said they're mischievous and are interested

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Speaker 1: in interacting with their environment and enrichment opportunities. During the

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Speaker 1: majority of the year, they can also be interactive with

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Speaker 1: animal care team members. However, they mostly like us because

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Speaker 1: we bring them food. They do tolerate care team members

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Speaker 1: being in their territory. However, they do not attempt to

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Speaker 1: interact with us in ways that domestic dogs would, and

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Speaker 1: we respect that preference. As wild animals, they will approach

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Speaker 1: care team members for feedings, training sessions, or to inspect

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Speaker 1: our work in their territory, but otherwise as they choose

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Speaker 1: not to interact with us. Loki and Thor arrived at

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Speaker 1: Zoe Atlanta together and lived in the same habitat for

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Speaker 1: many years until recently, when they began giving behavioral signs

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Speaker 1: that they didn't enjoy each other's presence. They're now living

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Speaker 1: in separate habitats in the zoo. Andrew said this is

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Speaker 1: normal behavior for tanuki, as generally only male female pairs

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Speaker 1: stay together long term. Tanuki typically mate for life, forming

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Speaker 1: monogamous pairs that share in foraging and in the care

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Speaker 1: and feeding of their offspring, called pups together. The mating

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Speaker 1: season occurs in the spring. Gestation lasts about nine weeks.

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Speaker 1: The litter averages about six pups. Sadly, their lives in

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Speaker 1: the wild don't usually last long, just eight to ten years.

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Speaker 1: Today's episode was written by Patty Resmussen and produced by

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Speaker 1: Tyler Clang. For more on this and lots of other

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Speaker 1: curious topics, visit how stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff

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