Raccoons

Raccoons Procyon Lotor, of the Procyonidae family... Raccoons or commonly called simply 'coons', are perhaps one of the most easily recognizable furbearers, with a ringed tail, and patches of dark fur covering the face in areas such as the eyes, resembling a mask. Often weighing 12 to 18 pounds, raccoons are hunted in their regions as a game animal, as well as a fur-bearer. Walking on 4, five toed feet, where in the hind are longer than the front, providing a hunched look as they walk or run, the front feet are very dexterous, meaning they are very well capable of picking up items and moving them around, almost as well as you could, provided they have the strength. The 4 canine teeth are elongated where there are 40 teeth in all. Raccoons, if you have ever observed are obviously a very smart animal, and strong as well; extremely-good swimmers as well as tree climbers. They are equipped with agility beyond what you might think. In the case that a raccoon is threatened, they will literally unhesitantly leap from 30 feet in the air to the ground and make their fast getaway.

Raccoons will eat almost anything! Some of the things they will eat are: crayfish, frogs, tadpoles, turtles, garter snakes, clams, oysters, nuts, berries, insects, grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, and many other things. They will also steal food from any cars, tents, or any other places a person might keep their food. Unfortunately humans are one of the raccoons main predators. Their fur is very valuable and the raccoons have been hunted for years. They protect themselves by hunching their backs so they look bigger than they really are, hoping to scare the predators away. In a personal perspective, that form of defense would seem rather ineffective, and for the most part quite sad.

When raccoon babies, called kits, are first born they are fuzzy pink, with eyes and ears closed, and are in a word, maskless as well as ringless. They participate in the same activities as the mother in their early youth, where they learn how to hunt, and when it is time to sleep. Generally there are 3 or 4 kits born at a time, each of which will live 12 or 15 years (the average life span of a wild raccoon).

They have some unusual habits: they mate in the spring, they climb down trees head first by doing this they turn their back paws almost backwards, they have better eyesight at night than during the day because they are nocturnal animals, and their paws are more sensitive when they are wet because they have hands like us and our hands are more sensitive when wet also. This also helps them to catch food much more easily. I think this because they spend a lot of their time in the water.

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