The raccoon dog, also known as the mangut,[2] tanuki or neoguri is a canid indigenous to East Asia.
It is the only extant species in the genus Nyctereutes.
It is unrelated to raccoons, and it is a close relative of true foxes rather than the domestic dog.
Among the Canidae, the raccoon dog shares the habit of regularly climbing trees only with the North American gray fox, another basal species.[3][4][5][6]
The raccoon dog is named for its superficial resemblance to the raccoon, to which it is not closely related.
In Japan, it is known as the tanuki, and has a long history in folklore.
In Sweden, it has been treated as a potentially hazardous invasive species.[7]