Examining multiple paternity in the raccoon dog (Nyctereutesprocyonoides) in Japan using microsatellite analysis

摘要

We analyzed the genotypes of three pregnant females and their litters to investigate thephenomenon of multiple paternity in wild raccoon dogs ( ) using 17 microsatellite markers. If a female has mated with onlyone male during estrus, then the maximum number of paternal alleles will not exceed twoamong littermates with the same father. The results revealed two out of three litters hadthree or four paternal alleles at one or five microsatellite loci. Therefore, the femalehad mated with more than one male during estrus. To the best of our knowledge, the presentstudy is the first to report the possibility of multiple paternity in wild raccoondogs.