{ "model": { "rank": 2254, "code": "thing-q121439", "model_id": "vr.tr.raccoon", "name": "raccoon", "purpose": "Enable an AI agent to recognise an individual raccoon, assess its observed condition and circumstances, and determine appropriate observation, coexistence or authorised intervention.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Physical world and living systems", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "PHY", "domain": "PHY.LIV", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q121439/", "tier": 2, "score": 111, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "Raccoon in Switzerland" ], "aliasCount": 1, "merged": 1, "knownIn": 111, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": "vr.tr.raccoon", "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q121439", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q121439", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-07T11:09:03Z", "providers": [ "Codex", "Grok" ], "missingProviders": [], "pass": 2, "cost": { "grok": { "usd": 0.0105825, "turns": 1, "seconds": 174.1, "error": null }, "codex": { "seconds": 84.7, "error": "Reading additional input from stdin...\nOpenAI Codex v0.153.3\n--------\nworkdir: R:\\02_PROJECTS\\02_Meta_Models_Platforms\\Ver.cy\\current\\thing-registry-backlog\nmodel: gpt-6-astra\nprovider: openai\napproval: never\nsandbox: read-only\nreasoning effort: none\nreasoning summaries: none\nsession id: 01a07b8a-b27f-7d60-a4bc-6d17a0efae02\n--------\nuser\nYou are drafting a Vercy meta-model for one registered thing. Answer as JSON only, no prose around it.\n\nThing: raccoon\nRegistry id: vr.tr.raccoon\nPlane / domain: PHY / PHY.LIV\nRegistry definition: (none recorded)\nNames folded into this entry: (none)\n\nA Vercy m" } } }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q121439", "registryId": "vr.tr.raccoon", "name": "raccoon", "version": "0.1.0-research.1", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "PHY.LIV" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q121439/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.raccoon", "name": "raccoon", "purpose": "Enable an AI agent to recognise an individual raccoon, assess its observed condition and circumstances, and determine appropriate observation, coexistence or authorised intervention.", "definition": "A raccoon is a mesocarnivorous, plantigrade mammal of the genus Procyon (Procyonidae); in ordinary English and in North American wildlife practice the name almost always denotes Procyon lotor, a nocturnal, highly tactile forager with a black facial mask, a ringed tail, and pentadactyl forepaws used to manipulate objects, native to North and Central America and widely naturalized in parts of Europe and East Asia.", "scope_statement": "This model owns the identity, observable condition, behaviour, dependencies and immediate interactions of an individual registered as a raccoon, while retaining uncertainty about species, individual identification and inferred states.", "in_scope": [ "Evidence supporting raccoon identification and identification of a particular individual", "Life stage, physical condition, mobility and observable signs of distress", "Foraging, food handling, movement, shelter use and activity patterns", "Dependent young, maternal associations and other observed raccoon relationships", "Encounters with people, pets, buildings, waste and immediate hazards" ], "out_of_scope": [ "Population abundance, regional distribution and conservation assessment", "Habitat, waterway and ecosystem condition beyond the individual's use of them", "Building construction, waste-service operation and property ownership", "Pathogen biology, laboratory diagnosis and human or animal medical treatment", "Wildlife legislation, licensing systems and rehabilitation-facility management" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Check for the combination of a dark facial mask, a ringed tail and a compact body; a ringed tail alone does not establish raccoon identity.", "Compare with a coati: examine snout length and body proportions, using the coati's more elongated snout as a discriminating observation rather than relying on tail markings.", "Compare with a ringtail: examine relative tail length, body slenderness and ear size; a very slender animal with conspicuous ears requires reconsideration of a raccoon identification.", "Compare with a raccoon dog: inspect the tail and feet as well as the face; a similar facial mask without the raccoon's ringed tail and handlike forefeet is insufficient.", "For tracks, look for five elongated toe impressions and differences between forefoot and hindfoot shape; require scale, substrate and multiple prints before treating a track as diagnostic." ], "characteristics": [ { "name": "Taxonomic identification", "kind": "category", "unit_or_values": "Candidate taxon, identification confidence and supporting observations; unresolved allowed", "why_it_matters": "The common name alone may not establish which species the agent is observing." }, { "name": "Individual recognition", "kind": "relation", "unit_or_values": "Links to observations through markings, scars, authorised identifiers or continuous tracking, with confidence", "why_it_matters": "Prevents observations of several raccoons from becoming a false history of one animal." }, { "name": "Life stage", "kind": "category", "unit_or_values": "Dependent young, juvenile, adult or unresolved", "why_it_matters": "Changes the interpretation of solitary presence, movement and possible care dependencies." }, { "name": "Body mass", "kind": "measurement", "unit_or_values": "kg, with date and measurement method; unknown if not measured", "why_it_matters": "Supports longitudinal condition assessment when interpreted alongside life stage and context." }, { "name": "Locomotor function", "kind": "state", "unit_or_values": "Observed walking, climbing or swimming ability; impairment, not observed or uncertain", "why_it_matters": "Helps distinguish ordinary movement from a possible injury or inability to escape a hazard." }, { "name": "Visible condition", "kind": "state", "unit_or_values": "Described coat condition, wounds, posture, responsiveness and gait, each with observation confidence", "why_it_matters": "Makes welfare concerns reviewable without treating appearance as a diagnosis." }, { "name": "Observed food source", "kind": "relation", "unit_or_values": "Food item or resource, acquisition behaviour, location and time", "why_it_matters": "Connects foraging to nutrition, attractants and possible exposure hazards." }, { "name": "Den or refuge association", "kind": "relation", "unit_or_values": "Candidate site, entry and exit evidence, occupancy confidence and observation dates", "why_it_matters": "Distinguishes an occupied refuge from a place the raccoon merely passed." }, { "name": "Young-care association", "kind": "relation", "unit_or_values": "Observed nursing, carrying, following or shared shelter, with participants and confidence", "why_it_matters": "Helps avoid separating dependent young from a caregiver." }, { "name": "Response to human presence", "kind": "state", "unit_or_values": "Avoidance, vigilance, approach, food-seeking, defensive display or unresolved, with encounter context", "why_it_matters": "Supports encounter decisions without assigning a permanent temperament from one event." } ], "affordances": [ "Observe remotely and connect sightings, tracks and shelter visits to a cautiously identified individual.", "Assess changes in gait, responsiveness, visible condition and resource use for referral to qualified wildlife personnel.", "Identify accessible food, waste or deliberate feeding associated with repeated visits and propose securing those attractants.", "Assess a proposed building exclusion for current occupancy, dependent young and applicable authorisation before action.", "Reduce close encounters by maintaining distance and managing access by people and pets.", "Document circumstances for authorised rescue or rehabilitation assessment when an animal appears injured, trapped or dependent." ] }, "sources": [ { "id": "lotze-anderson-1979", "title": "Procyon lotor (Mammalian Species No. 119)", "url": "", "what_it_supports": "Standard species account for morphology, dental formula, reproduction, range and natural history of P. lotor." }, { "id": "iucn-p-lotor", "title": "Procyon lotor. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species", "url": "https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/41686/45216638", "what_it_supports": "Global conservation status (Least Concern), native and introduced distribution, and taxonomic treatment of the common raccoon.", "url_status": "live" }, { "id": "msw3", "title": "Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, 3rd edition", "url": "", "what_it_supports": "Accepted scientific name, family placement in Procyonidae, and the subspecies framework still cited in mammalogy." }, { "id": "eu-ias-1143-2014", "title": "Regulation (EU) No 1143/2014 on the prevention and management of the introduction and spread of invasive alien species", "url": "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32014R1143", "what_it_supports": "European Union legal status of P. lotor as a listed invasive alien species, with restrictions on keeping, transport and release.", "url_status": "live" }, { "id": "cdc-baylisascaris-rabies", "title": "CDC guidance on raccoon rabies and Baylisascaris procyonis (raccoon roundworm)", "url": "https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/", "what_it_supports": "Public-health role of raccoons as a rabies reservoir and as the definitive host of a zoonotic ascarid.", "url_status": "live" } ], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "raccoon-identification", "name": "Raccoon identification", "description": "Evidence that the observed animal or trace belongs to a raccoon and, where possible, a particular individual.", "rationale": "Masks, ringed tails and partial tracks can produce mistaken identifications and merged individual histories.", "layers": [ { "id": "animal-and-trace-evidence", "name": "Animal and trace evidence", "description": "Separates observed diagnostic features from an identification inferred from them.", "findings": [ { "id": "combined-identification-features", "name": "Combined identification features", "description": "Records facial markings, tail pattern, snout, body proportions and feet or tracks, including missing or obscured features.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which visible combination supports raccoon identification, and which plausible look-alike remains?", "kind": "definition", "id": "combined-identification-features-q01" }, { "text": "What photograph, video or track record supports the identification, and what limits its interpretation?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "combined-identification-features-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "individual-continuity", "name": "Individual continuity", "description": "Determines whether repeated records concern the same raccoon.", "findings": [ { "id": "repeat-sighting-link", "name": "Repeat-sighting link", "description": "Records distinguishing marks, temporal continuity and competing explanations for an apparent return visit.", "questions": [ { "text": "What persistent marking, identifier or continuous observation connects these sightings?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "repeat-sighting-link-q01" }, { "text": "Could more than one raccoon explain the records currently assigned to this individual?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "repeat-sighting-link-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "condition-and-dependency", "name": "Condition and dependency", "description": "The raccoon's observable bodily function and dependence on care.", "rationale": "An encounter decision depends on distinguishing a functioning animal from one with impaired movement or dependent young.", "layers": [ { "id": "physical-function", "name": "Physical function", "description": "Observations of movement, responsiveness and visible bodily condition.", "findings": [ { "id": "condition-in-context", "name": "Condition in context", "description": "Records observable signs and changes without converting unusual behaviour or daytime activity into a disease diagnosis.", "questions": [ { "text": "What gait, climbing ability, posture, responsiveness or visible injury was actually observed?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "condition-in-context-q01" }, { "text": "Do the recorded signs warrant assessment by qualified wildlife personnel, and what evidence supports that decision?", "kind": "action", "id": "condition-in-context-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "life-stage-and-care", "name": "Life stage and care", "description": "Evidence of developmental stage and relationships involving dependent young.", "findings": [ { "id": "dependent-young-assessment", "name": "Dependent-young assessment", "description": "Distinguishes observed care relationships from assumptions that a small or temporarily solitary raccoon is orphaned.", "questions": [ { "text": "What size, behaviour and nursing or following observations support the assigned life stage and dependency?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "dependent-young-assessment-q01" }, { "text": "What observation coverage supports caregiver absence rather than a temporary separation?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "dependent-young-assessment-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "foraging-and-manipulation", "name": "Foraging and manipulation", "description": "How the raccoon obtains, handles and consumes food in its current setting.", "rationale": "Raccoon food handling and access to human food sources can explain repeated visits and guide practical coexistence measures.", "layers": [ { "id": "food-acquisition", "name": "Food acquisition", "description": "Distinguishes eating, searching, investigating and manipulating a possible food source.", "findings": [ { "id": "food-use-evidence", "name": "Food-use evidence", "description": "Records food items and acquisition events without inferring the whole diet from a single encounter.", "questions": [ { "text": "What item was visibly consumed, and what was only handled, investigated or carried?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "food-use-evidence-q01" }, { "text": "Does this record describe an isolated feeding event or a repeated resource association?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "food-use-evidence-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "forepaw-use-and-access", "name": "Forepaw use and access", "description": "Observed manipulation of food, water-edge materials and barriers to resources.", "findings": [ { "id": "manipulation-sequence", "name": "Manipulation sequence", "description": "Records what the forepaws contacted or moved, including water contact, without assigning an unobserved cleaning intention.", "questions": [ { "text": "What sequence of paw contact, object movement and mouth contact was observed?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "manipulation-sequence-q01" }, { "text": "Which observed access route or manipulated closure should inform a change to food or waste storage?", "kind": "action", "id": "manipulation-sequence-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "refuges-and-movement", "name": "Refuges and movement", "description": "The raccoon's use of dens, temporary cover and routes through its immediate surroundings.", "rationale": "A passing raccoon, an occupied den and a family shelter require different interpretations and actions.", "layers": [ { "id": "den-occupancy", "name": "Den occupancy", "description": "Evidence for occupation of tree cavities, structures or other sheltered spaces.", "findings": [ { "id": "refuge-role-and-occupancy", "name": "Refuge role and occupancy", "description": "Records entry, exit, resting and young-care evidence, with uncertainty about hidden occupants.", "questions": [ { "text": "What observations distinguish a transit opening, temporary refuge and den with possible dependent young?", "kind": "definition", "id": "refuge-role-and-occupancy-q01" }, { "text": "What remains unobserved inside the site that could make closing an entrance unsafe?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "refuge-role-and-occupancy-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "routes-and-activity", "name": "Routes and activity", "description": "Observed travel through ground, climbing and water routes, with timing and detection limits.", "findings": [ { "id": "route-and-observation-coverage", "name": "Route and observation coverage", "description": "Connects repeated movements to resources and hazards while preserving gaps in surveillance.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which routes and times were recorded, and when was the observation method operating?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "route-and-observation-coverage-q01" }, { "text": "Where does an observed route intersect traffic, entrapment points or access by people and pets?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "route-and-observation-coverage-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "encounters-and-intervention", "name": "Encounters and intervention", "description": "Immediate interactions with people and pets, and evidence governing proposed intervention.", "rationale": "Food-seeking approaches, defensive encounters and building occupancy require context before an agent recommends action.", "layers": [ { "id": "encounter-context", "name": "Encounter context", "description": "Records approach, avoidance and defensive behaviour relative to nearby food, young, shelter and escape routes.", "findings": [ { "id": "observed-encounter-response", "name": "Observed encounter response", "description": "Describes the interaction sequence without equating proximity with tameness or assigning a disease state.", "questions": [ { "text": "Who approached whom, at what distance, and what food, young or escape constraints were present?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "observed-encounter-response-q01" }, { "text": "What immediate change in distance, pet access or attractant availability would reduce another close encounter?", "kind": "action", "id": "observed-encounter-response-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "intervention-preconditions", "name": "Intervention preconditions", "description": "Links a proposed exclusion, capture, transport or care referral to evidence and external authority.", "findings": [ { "id": "action-eligibility", "name": "Action eligibility", "description": "Records the specific problem, unresolved occupancy or dependency, and verified authorisation relevant to a proposed action.", "questions": [ { "text": "What individual-level evidence supports the proposed action, and could it separate dependent young or trap an occupant?", "kind": "action", "id": "action-eligibility-q01" }, { "text": "Which current local rule or qualified authority establishes who may perform this action and under what conditions?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "action-eligibility-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "evidence-and-external-alignment", "name": "Evidence and external alignment", "description": "What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.", "rationale": "A model that cannot be lined up against existing standards, identifiers and practice cannot be adopted by anyone who already uses them.", "layers": [ { "id": "reported-evidence", "name": "Reported evidence", "description": "Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.", "findings": [ { "id": "evidence-kinds", "name": "Kinds and varieties", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ "Common raccoon (Procyon lotor), the default wild species of North and Central America", "Crab-eating raccoon (Procyon cancrivorus), the Neotropical sister species distinguished by specialists", "Cozumel raccoon (Procyon pygmaeus), the dwarf island endemic of Cozumel", "Named subspecies of P. lotor used in regional mammalogy (e.g. eastern P. l. lotor, Florida P. l. elucus, Mexican P. l. hernandezii)", "Urban-commensal populations living on refuse and denning in buildings", "Fur-farm and former fur-farm stock, the source of many European introductions", "Kept or pet raccoons, legal in some places and prohibited in many others", "Coat-colour morphs distinguished by keepers and trappers (albino, leucistic, brown/cinnamon)" ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-kinds-q01", "text": "Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of raccoon this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-identifiers", "name": "Identifiers and schemes", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ { "scheme": "Wikidata", "value_or_pattern": "Q247706", "note": "Item for Procyon lotor, the usual referent of English \"raccoon\"." }, { "scheme": "NCBI Taxonomy", "value_or_pattern": "9654", "note": "NCBI taxon ID for Procyon lotor; cited as NCBI:txid9654." }, { "scheme": "ITIS TSN", "value_or_pattern": "416591", "note": "Integrated Taxonomic Information System taxonomic serial number for Procyon lotor." }, { "scheme": "IUCN Red List taxon", "value_or_pattern": "41686", "note": "IUCN internal taxon number for Procyon lotor." }, { "scheme": "Scientific name (ICZN)", "value_or_pattern": "Procyon lotor (Linnaeus, 1758)", "note": "Original combination Ursus lotor; family Procyonidae." } ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-identifiers-q01", "text": "Which of these identifiers and schemes hold for the sense of raccoon this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-standards-and-regulation", "name": "Standards and regulation", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ "IUCN Red List assessment of Procyon lotor (Least Concern), issued by IUCN", "EU Invasive Alien Species Regulation (EU) 1143/2014 and the Union list, issued by the European Union, listing P. lotor", "Japan Invasive Alien Species Act, administered by the Ministry of the Environment, treating the introduced raccoon as a regulated IAS", "State and provincial wildlife/furbearer codes in the United States and Canada (seasons, bag limits, possession), issued by fish and wildlife agencies; not listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act", "NASPHV Compendium of Animal Rabies Prevention and Control, treating the raccoon as a rabies-reservoir species", "USDA APHIS rules on interstate movement of rabies-vector species (including raccoons) under 9 CFR", "WOAH (World Organisation for Animal Health) Terrestrial Animal Health Code, rabies chapter, as it applies to wildlife reservoirs" ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-standards-and-regulation-q01", "text": "Which of these standards and regulation hold for the sense of raccoon this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-real-world-use", "name": "Real-world use", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ "Encountered as an urban commensal that dens in attics, chimneys and sewers and forages from refuse", "Hunted and trapped as a furbearer; historically a major North American fur (coon-skin coats and trims)", "Taken as wild game in parts of the rural United States", "Used in rabies surveillance (oral bait vaccination campaigns in eastern North America; diagnostic testing of suspect animals)", "Kept as an exotic pet where not prohibited, and formerly farmed for fur in Europe and elsewhere, from which wild populations established", "Managed as an invasive predator of birds, amphibians, crayfish and turtle nests in Germany, other EU states and Japan", "A frequent subject of nuisance-wildlife control (exclusion, trapping, euthanasia) around houses and farms" ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-real-world-use-q01", "text": "Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of raccoon this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-measurements", "name": "Typical measurements", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ { "quantity": "Adult body mass", "typical_range": "4-10 (exceptionally to about 15 in fat northern animals)", "unit": "kg" }, { "quantity": "Head-body length", "typical_range": "40-70", "unit": "cm" }, { "quantity": "Tail length", "typical_range": "20-40", "unit": "cm" }, { "quantity": "Litter size", "typical_range": "2-5 (rarely 1-7)", "unit": "kits" }, { "quantity": "Gestation", "typical_range": "63-65", "unit": "days" }, { "quantity": "Wild lifespan (typical completed)", "typical_range": "2-3 (many die in the first year; captive animals may exceed 15-20)", "unit": "years" }, { "quantity": "Diploid chromosome number", "typical_range": "38", "unit": "2n" } ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-measurements-q01", "text": "Which of these typical measurements hold for the sense of raccoon this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-failure-modes-and-hazards", "name": "Failure modes and hazards", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ "Rabies: P. lotor is the principal terrestrial rabies reservoir in eastern North America and a serious zoonotic risk", "Baylisascaris procyonis (raccoon roundworm): eggs in latrines can cause severe neural and ocular larva migrans in humans and other animals", "Canine distemper and parvovirus epizootics that crash local populations and produce neurologically sick animals easily mistaken for rabid ones", "Property and crop damage: torn roofing and insulation, raided poultry, sweetcorn and vineyards", "Invasive-range predation on ground-nesting birds, amphibians, crayfish and turtle nests", "Road mortality, a dominant cause of death in many suburban populations", "Human-wildlife conflict, including bites during feeding or handling and illegal relocation that spreads disease" ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-failure-modes-and-hazards-q01", "text": "Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of raccoon this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-regional-variation", "name": "Regional variation", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ "Native from southern Canada through much of the United States into Central America; absent as a native from most of the Old World", "Introduced and established in Germany and neighbouring European states (from 1930s fur-farm escapes) and in Japan (pet releases from the 1960s-70s); listed for control there", "English raccoon/racoon; Spanish mapache; French raton laveur; German Waschbär; Japanese araiguma", "In Japan the animal is routinely confused in popular speech and imagery with the native raccoon dog (tanuki)", "In the rural U.S. South it is still a hunted furbearer and food animal; in large North American cities it is treated mainly as a pest and rabies vector", "Cozumel and some other island forms are discussed as separate conservation units, unlike mainland P. lotor" ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-regional-variation-q01", "text": "Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of raccoon this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-neighbours", "name": "Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ { "name": "Raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides)", "difference": "Canid, not a procyonid: tail not distinctly ringed, shorter legs, different gait and dentition; native to East Asia and itself introduced in Europe." }, { "name": "Ringtail (Bassariscus astutus)", "difference": "Much smaller and more cat-like, with a longer tail bearing more complete black-and-white rings and a face without the raccoon's broad black mask." }, { "name": "White-nosed coati (Nasua narica)", "difference": "Diurnal, social, with a long mobile snout and a long tail usually carried erect; overlapping only in the southern part of the raccoon's range." }, { "name": "Striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis)", "difference": "Bold white dorsal stripes rather than a facial mask and ringed tail; anal scent glands and a different track (skunks lack the raccoon's long-fingered forepaw print)." }, { "name": "Crab-eating raccoon (Procyon cancrivorus)", "difference": "South American range, shorter and less dense coat, proportionally longer legs and a less bushy tail; not the animal meant by \"raccoon\" in U.S. and Canadian practice." }, { "name": "American badger (Taxidea taxus)", "difference": "Fossorial mustelid with a flattened body, facial badges rather than a mask-plus-rings combination, and very different claws and tracks." } ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-neighbours-q01", "text": "Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of raccoon this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Does vr.tr.raccoon denote the common raccoon specifically, or a broader set of species called raccoons?", "Which identification features reliably separate the intended taxon from locally occurring look-alikes across life stages?", "Which validated methods support life-stage and body-condition assessment without handling, and how do season and reproductive state affect interpretation?", "What observation duration and methods support reliable assessment of den occupancy and caregiver absence?", "Which jurisdiction-specific sources govern exclusion, capture, relocation and rehabilitation, and which findings require professional assessment?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 6, "layers": 11, "findings": 18, "questions": 28 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "organism", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a raccoon, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Enable an AI agent to recognise an individual raccoon, assess its observed condition and circumstances, and determine appropriate observation, coexistence or authorised intervention.", "characteristics": { "substance": "living", "origin": "natural", "agency": "autonomous", "mobility": "self-moving" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: Raccoon in Switzerland.", "1 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 111 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a raccoon, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "a living thing", "physicalCharacter": [ "Moves under its own power or of its own accord.", "Acts on its own behalf.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Recognised by diagnostic characters, and those differ by life stage - the young of many kinds are mistaken for other kinds entirely. A sighting is settled by characters, a photograph and a place, not by a name alone." ], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "Raccoon in Switzerland" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 111 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 1 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one raccoon from another, and a raccoon from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a raccoon, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a raccoon, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a raccoon is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a raccoon, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a raccoon, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a raccoon is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a raccoon sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a raccoon, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a raccoon, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a raccoon is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a raccoon from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a raccoon, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a raccoon, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a raccoon is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "form-and-composition", "name": "Form, composition and condition", "description": "What a raccoon is made of, what shape and size it takes, and what state it is in.", "rationale": "A physical thing can be measured, and a model that cannot record its measurements cannot support any decision that depends on them.", "layers": [ { "id": "form-and-dimensions", "name": "Form and dimensions", "description": "Shape, size, mass and the ranges these take across examples.", "findings": [ { "id": "measurable-dimensions", "name": "Measurable dimensions and their units", "description": "The quantities worth recording and the units they are recorded in.", "questions": [ { "id": "measurable-dimensions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the dimensions of a raccoon, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "measurable-dimensions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the dimensions of a raccoon, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "measurable-dimensions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the dimensions of a raccoon is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "material-and-composition", "name": "Material and composition", "description": "Anatomy, parts and life stage.", "findings": [ { "id": "parts-and-materials", "name": "Parts and life stages", "description": "The parts of a raccoon and the stages it passes through.", "questions": [ { "id": "parts-and-materials-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the composition of a raccoon, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "parts-and-materials-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the composition of a raccoon, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "parts-and-materials-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the composition of a raccoon is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "condition-and-integrity", "name": "Condition and integrity", "description": "Wear, damage, health and the difference between working and broken.", "findings": [ { "id": "condition-assessment", "name": "Condition, damage and health", "description": "How the condition of a raccoon is judged and by whom.", "questions": [ { "id": "condition-assessment-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the condition of a raccoon, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "condition-assessment-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the condition of a raccoon, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "condition-assessment-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the condition of a raccoon is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "place-and-movement", "name": "Place and movement", "description": "Where a raccoon is, how it got there and where it may go (self-moving).", "rationale": "A thing that can move needs its position recorded with a time, or every later claim about it is about a place it has left.", "layers": [ { "id": "location-and-placement", "name": "Location and placement", "description": "Position, containment and the reference frame the position is given in.", "findings": [ { "id": "position-and-frame", "name": "Position, container and reference frame", "description": "Where a raccoon is, and what that position is measured against.", "questions": [ { "id": "position-and-frame-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the location of a raccoon, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "position-and-frame-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the location of a raccoon, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "position-and-frame-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the location of a raccoon is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "movement-and-transfer", "name": "Movement and transfer", "description": "How a raccoon moves on its own.", "findings": [ { "id": "movement-events", "name": "Movement events and constraints", "description": "What counts as a movement, what records it and what limits it.", "questions": [ { "id": "movement-events-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the movement of a raccoon, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "movement-events-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the movement of a raccoon, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "movement-events-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the movement of a raccoon is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a raccoon passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a raccoon between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a raccoon, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a raccoon, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a raccoon is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a raccoon, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a raccoon is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a raccoon, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a raccoon, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a raccoon is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "taxonomic-placement", "name": "Taxonomic placement and identification", "description": "What raccoon is called scientifically, by whose authority, and how a specimen is recognised.", "rationale": "Names change with revisions while the organism does not, so a name without its authority and date cannot be reconciled later.", "layers": [ { "id": "accepted-name", "name": "Accepted name and synonymy", "description": "The current binomial, its author and date, and the names it replaced.", "findings": [ { "id": "name-and-authority", "name": "Accepted name, authority and synonyms", "description": "What to record so a later revision can be applied without losing the old data.", "questions": [ { "id": "name-and-authority-q01", "text": "What is the accepted scientific name of raccoon, with its author and year, and which synonyms does it absorb?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "name-and-authority-q02", "text": "Which taxonomic authority is being followed, and what would a competing authority say?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "field-identification", "name": "Field identification", "description": "The characters that separate raccoon from what it is confused with.", "findings": [ { "id": "diagnostic-characters", "name": "Diagnostic characters and confusable kinds", "description": "Features that settle an identification, and those that only suggest it.", "questions": [ { "id": "diagnostic-characters-q01", "text": "Which observable characters distinguish raccoon from its closest look-alikes, and at which life stage are they visible?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "diagnostic-characters-q02", "text": "What evidence is enough to record an identification as confirmed rather than provisional?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "life-cycle-and-condition", "name": "Life stages, condition and behaviour", "description": "What raccoon does over its life and how its state is judged.", "rationale": "Stage and condition change what may be done - handled, treated, harvested, left alone - and both are observations with a time.", "layers": [ { "id": "stages-and-reproduction", "name": "Stages and reproduction", "description": "Development from origin to death, including forms that look like different animals.", "findings": [ { "id": "life-stages", "name": "Life stages and their marks", "description": "The stages worth recording and what tells them apart.", "questions": [ { "id": "life-stages-q01", "text": "What stages does raccoon pass through, and what observable change marks each transition?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "life-stages-q02", "text": "Which stages are so unlike the adult that they are mistaken for another kind?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "health-and-condition", "name": "Health and condition", "description": "How condition is assessed and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "condition-assessment", "name": "Condition assessment", "description": "Signs of health, injury and stress, and who is competent to judge them.", "questions": [ { "id": "condition-assessment-q01", "text": "How is the condition of raccoon judged, on what scale, and by whom?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "id": "condition-assessment-q02", "text": "What condition obliges an agent to act, and what act is permitted to whom?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "range-and-status", "name": "Habitat, range and conservation status", "description": "Where raccoon lives and how threatened it is.", "rationale": "Range and status govern what is lawful, and both are assessments with an assessor and a year rather than facts of nature.", "layers": [ { "id": "habitat-and-range", "name": "Habitat and range", "description": "Native range, introductions and the habitat it needs.", "findings": [ { "id": "range-record", "name": "Range, introductions and habitat", "description": "What to record about where it is found and how it got there.", "questions": [ { "id": "range-record-q01", "text": "What is the native range of raccoon, where has it been introduced, and what habitat does it require?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "range-record-q02", "text": "What distinguishes a native record from an introduced or vagrant one?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "protection-status", "name": "Protection and legal status", "description": "Conservation assessments and the rules that follow from them.", "findings": [ { "id": "status-and-rules", "name": "Conservation status and legal consequence", "description": "The assessment, its date, and what it forbids or requires where.", "questions": [ { "id": "status-and-rules-q01", "text": "What conservation status does raccoon hold, under which assessment and year?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "id": "status-and-rules-q02", "text": "What does that status forbid or require of an agent, and in which jurisdiction?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a raccoon came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a raccoon and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a raccoon, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a raccoon, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a raccoon is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a raccoon is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a raccoon, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a raccoon, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a raccoon is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 8, "layers": 17, "findings": 19, "questions": 51 } } } }