Studying the Impacts of Invasive Raccoon Dogs in Japan with Kasia Majewski

Kasia is a third year PhD student at the Kyoto University Wildlife Research Center in Japan. She is presently studying the impacts of invasive raccoon dogs (locally known as tanuki) on the only two islands in Japan where raccoon dogs, or tanuki, have been identified as invasive. While they are native to mainland Japan, tanuki were introduced to Yakushima Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Biosphere Reserve, and Chiburijima in the Oki Dozen Archipelago, a UNESCO Geopark. Kasia is part of the first team in Japan to perform a long-term research project on the invasive tanuki on these islands.