Raccoon

From Nookipedia, the Animal Crossing wiki
(Redirected from Tanuki)
SpecialSpeciesIconSilhouette.png
Raccoon
Tom Nook NH.png
Species count by game
DnM AC e+ WW CF NL HHD PC NH
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
Species count by type
Villagers Islanders Special Total
0 0 3 3

Raccoons are a species of special characters in Animal Crossing. In the Japanese and Korean versions of the series, they are actually raccoon dogs (tanuki in Japanese and neoguli in Korean). Raccoon dogs have facial markings that bear a resemblance to raccoons, but are otherwise not closely related, instead belonging in the same biological family as dogs and wolves. There are three raccoons in the Animal Crossing series so far.

Special characters[edit]

Timmy and Tommy
Timmy and Tommy

Gender: Male
Role: Clerks at Nookington's (City Folk and Prior)
Owners of the Nookling Shops (New Leaf and New Horizons)
Birthday: June 7th
Debut: Doubutsu no Mori

Tom Nook
Tom Nook

Gender: Male
Role: Worker at the town store (City Folk and Prior)
Worker at Nook's Homes (New Leaf)
Worker at Resident Services (New Horizons)
Birthday: May 30th
Debut: Doubutsu no Mori

Other information[edit]

Real life tanuki

In Japanese folklore, raccoon dogs, or tanuki, are often depicted as mythical creatures with shapeshifting powers. Using leaves, they can assume different forms, generally doing so to pull pranks on humans. One particular mythical tanuki, danzaburou-danuki, was known to trick humans by creating mirages, such as luring people into his den by making it appear to be a wealthy estate, and selling leaves from trees by making them appear to be made of gold. He was also known to generously lend people interest-free debts, though his funds were said to obtained by embezzlement or fooling people into working for him. These aspects likely inspired Tom Nook's portrayal in the Animal Crossing series, as well as why furniture items are stylized as leaves and why bells may occasionally appear from trees.

Related canine species[edit]