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Raccoon (Procyon lotor)

Raccoon| Stillwater, MN | View Enlarged Photo

One Truly Adaptable Mammal

This trash can-toppling, nest raiding bandit is probably one of Minnesota's most notorious backyard visitors, and the reputation is not unwarranted. Raccoons are amazingly intelligent and clever, have very keen senses and excellent night vision, their dexterous hands are shaped much like ours, and they are incredibly adaptable as they will eat practically anything. While many animal populations are adversely affected by urban sprawl, Raccoons actually benefited from it.

Raccoons are great escape artists and have been famous for outsmarting dogs and hunters alike since before the arrival of European settlers. They can run climb and swim with amazing agility, and their bands make them almost impossible to spot in the underbrush. They've been known to take incredible falls without getting hurt. We once saw one fall from the limb of an Oak, thirty feet up, and bound away unharmed!

While appearing soft and cuddly, adult Raccoons are amazing fighters in a pinch. Most suburban dogs are no match for an adult male's teeth and claws, and they have been known to outsmart, and even intentionally drown hunting hounds.

We have to keep their motives in mind, though. Some people give them a bad rep for toppling over trash cans. Animals don't understand the human concept of private property. To a Raccoon, a trash can is just a buffet table, and getting in is just part of surviving in a suburban setting. Some people don't like them because they raid birds and turtles' eggs. Again, this is just nature's way. It's one part luck and one part skill; that turtle that's careful to lay its eggs at just the right depth, and then cover its tracks will pass on its genes to another generation.

Raccoons are primarily nocturnal creatures. This really gives them an advantage against what few predators they have. They will spend the day holed up in hollow trees, caves, in abandoned houses and barns, under decks, and even in attics, and the nights roving for food. They will eat practically anything. Depending on their surroundings they might eat crayfish, snails, fish, small rodents, amphibians, worms, eggs, birds, nuts, fruit, berries, they will eat carrion, agricultural crops, and raid garbage. Like other rodents, they will eat discarded bones, shells, and horns to get at the calcium.

Some interesting Raccoon facts:

• Many people have taken in sick or injured Raccoons and rehabilitated them. It's said that these 'pets' are playful, curious, and extremely intelligent. Without proper training and certification, however, this is neither recommended nor legal. Raccoons can carry (among other things) distemper and rabies, and should never be socialized to humans.
• Raccoons are not rodents. Rodents (mice, chipmunks, woodchucks, porcupines, squirrels and beavers) are primarily herbivorous. They have a single pair of upper and lower incisors (buckteeth) made specially to gnaw on tough, shelled food like nuts and acorns. Their teeth continue to grow throughout their lifetime.
• Raccoons will come to ground feeders, but it's never a good idea to make a wild animal dependent on humans.
• Raccoons can bound at up to 30 miles per hour!
• Raccoons usually give birth to one litter per year. Mating season is from late Winter to early Summer. The mother cares for the young, and eventually takes them with to hunt for food on her nighttime excursions.
• Raccoons like to dip their food in water (where available) before eating it. It was once thought that when Raccoons performed this ritual they were "washing" their food. Scientists now believe that dipping the food in water makes it easier for the Raccoons to swallow.
  

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	National Audubon Society's Field Guide to Mammals
	America's Favorite Backyard Wildlife
	Tracking and the Art of Seeing

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