Posts tagged procyonidae

Bassaris raptor [Bassariscus astutus raptor] - The Ringtail Found throughout the Southwest United States and the majority of Mexico, the Ringtail is the closest relative of the raccoons. Though they share many of the same habits, raccoons are much more apt to inhabit cities and populated areas, whereas the ringtail (with its considerably more agile form) can just as easily procure food away from potential hazards (humans). As true omnivores, they can eat anything from berries to lizards, and can even live off of a diet of mice and a few carbohydrate-rich scraps from the table every now and then. Because they’re excellent at hunting small rodents and fairly easily domesticated, Ringtails used to be kept by the miners in the Southwest, and that’s how they became known as miner’s cats (though they’re actually unrelated to cats). Biologia Centrali-Americana: Or, Contributions to the Knowledge of Flora and Fauna of Mexico and Central America. Edited by F. Ducane Godman and Osbert Salvin, 1918.

Bassaris raptor [Bassariscus astutus raptor] - The Ringtail

Found throughout the Southwest United States and the majority of Mexico, the Ringtail is the closest relative of the raccoons. Though they share many of the same habits, raccoons are much more apt to inhabit cities and populated areas, whereas the ringtail (with its considerably more agile form) can just as easily procure food away from potential hazards (humans).

As true omnivores, they can eat anything from berries to lizards, and can even live off of a diet of mice and a few carbohydrate-rich scraps from the table every now and then. Because they’re excellent at hunting small rodents and fairly easily domesticated, Ringtails used to be kept by the miners in the Southwest, and that’s how they became known as miner’s cats (though they’re actually unrelated to cats).

Biologia Centrali-Americana: Or, Contributions to the Knowledge of Flora and Fauna of Mexico and Central America. Edited by F. Ducane Godman and Osbert Salvin, 1918.

I'd hate to add to the deluge of Family questions (and I honestly don't know if back in the deep recesses there may already a surfeit of them), but do you have any Procyonidae? More specifically, honestly, Procyon-related stuff? Love your site and everything about it. Thank you. — Asked by eccentricgent

Currently, I only have a raccoon (and an “american raccoon?” - I think a crab-eating raccoon) on an odd old Chinese/English animal book.

biomedicalephemera.tumblr.com/tagged/raccoon

I’ll be honest, I know damn near nothing about most of the offshoot Carnivora families, including the Procyonidae. The last I read about them was when the Red Panda was “officially” moved to its own family (though people had thought it was only somewhat morphologically similar to the Procyonidae and as such misclassified for quite a while).

Seems like these days, molecular genetics is moving to challenge the morphological phylogeny that was already challenging the previously-accepted taxonomical organization…it’s a complicated family with lots of debate and hardly any attention paid to it since the removal of the Ailurinae from the monophyletic family.

Anyway, I have some Procyonidae, and a Procyon or two in here.

Anyone interested in the Procyonidae phylogeny debate should read this paper - even if you don’t know molecular biology, the different cladograms and conclusions are very interesting.