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Data from Virolahti
In the snow-free season, we located raccoon dogs once every 15 min during dark hours to study their movements. The mean length of the tracking sessions was 5.0 h±1.19. We collected 1727 locations of 10 male and 11 female raccoon dogs during 121 tracking sessions in late March–early November (mainly April–October). We calculated the speed (m/h) and the area covered (minimum convex polygon) by each animal during each tracking session (including those uk101 with >3 h, >10 locations, >2.5 locations/h). We used the software Ranges 6 (Kenward et al. 2003).
We examined the effect of weather (mean temperature of the day and snow depth), day length (the time between sunrise and sunset), and the phase of the moon on the activity of animals in winter, using the data from Virolahti. Weather data were obtained from a local weather station (Virolahti, Koivuniemi) of the Finnish Meteorological Institute (Ilmatieteen laitos/Sääpalvelut). We tested the effect of the moon on the activity of raccoon dogs only before the end of the year, because in mid-winter raccoon dogs were usually lethargic (see Results) and we did not expect the moonlight to affect their activity during the harshest period of the year.