That hat is interesting. Being a person who has raccoons in the yard frequently, I was pretty surprised to learn that that thick fluffy hat was from the Siberian version. Did the natural history section of the museum have any mounts of local raccoons? How do they compare in size with our US version? I understand the thicker fur, but was amazed at the depth of the pelt! Believe it or not, an obviously expectant mother raccoon just scittered through the back yard and down into the woods. She probably just had Sunday lunch at the neighbor's cat food dish. She is rather scrawny and mostly gray and black. The pelt depth looks to be about 1 to 1.5 inches at the fluffiest. I would not trust my ears to fur like hers! Stay Warm. Barney Peterson