Raccoon dogs may have been linked to the pandemic. What are they?
The wild animals are more similar to foxes than to domesticated dogs. Data that suggested a link between raccoon dogs and the origins of the COVID pandemic was removed from an international database.
The World Health Organization is asking Chinese officials to release data that may show a link between raccoon dogs and the coronavirus. That left many wondering — what is a raccoon dog, anyway?
First, here's why we're talking about them. They were being sold at a seafood and meat market in Wuhan, China, where researchers found evidence of the coronavirus in showed up in the same swabs as the virus that causes COVID, implying the animals could've been an initial host.
