Raccoon facts for kids
The raccoon (Procyon lotor), also called the common raccoon or coon, is a clever mammal. These animals are very curious and usually like to be by themselves. Raccoons originally came from North America but have now spread through Central America. They can live in many different places, called habitats. Some raccoons have even escaped in parts of Eurasia (check the map in the infobox) and now live there too. Raccoons eat all sorts of things, which means they are omnivores. They belong to the same family as weasels.
Raccoons are easy to spot because of their special front paws, the black "mask" around their eyes, and their striped tail. They are known for being very smart. Studies have shown that raccoons can remember how to solve problems for up to three years! Raccoons are usually active at night. Their diet is made up of about 40% invertebrates (like bugs), 33% plant foods, and 27% vertebrates (like small animals).
Most raccoons live in the wild. They don't mind being near humans at all! You might find them making their homes in empty buildings, garages, sheds, or even the attics of houses. Raccoons do not hibernate (sleep through) the winter. However, those that live in colder northern areas grow thick coats to stay warm and might sleep for long periods. Raccoons living with humans can live up to 20 years, but in the wild, they usually live only 1 to 3 years.
There are two other types of raccoons that look very similar to the common raccoon: the crab-eating raccoon (P. cancrivorus) and the Cozumel Island raccoon (P. pygmaeus). The crab-eating raccoon is found in many places in eastern South America.
Quick facts for kids Common raccoon (or racoon) |
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Procyon
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| Procyon lotor |
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| Common raccoon native range in red, feral range in blue |
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Contents
Raccoon History and Types
How Raccoons Got Their Name
When Christopher Columbus's team first saw raccoons, they were the first Europeans to write about them. Early scientists thought raccoons were related to many different animals, like dogs, cats, badgers, and especially bears.
Carl Linnaeus, who created the modern system for naming animals, first put the raccoon in the Ursus (bear) group in 1740. He called it Ursus Lotor, which means "washer bear." Later, in 1780, a scientist named Gottlieb Conrad Christian Storr gave the raccoon its own group, Procyon. This name can mean "before the dog" or "dog-like." It might also refer to the star Procyon, because raccoons are active at night.
Raccoon Family Tree
Scientists believe the first animals in the raccoon family lived in Europe about 25 million years ago. Raccoons and weasels might share a common ancestor, but genetic studies show raccoons are more closely related to bears.
About 2.5 million years ago, the ancestors of the common raccoon moved north from warmer, tropical areas. This journey is supported by fossils found in the Great Plains.
Different Kinds of Raccoons
There are 22 known types, or subspecies, of raccoons. Some of these subspecies live only on small islands in Central America and the Caribbean. For a long time, these island raccoons were thought to be completely different species. However, studies have shown that they are actually subspecies of the common raccoon. One island raccoon, the Cozumel raccoon, is still considered a separate species because it's much smaller and has tiny teeth.
The smallest raccoon subspecies live along the southern coast of Florida and on nearby islands. Most of the other 15 subspecies look pretty similar, with only small differences in fur color or size. The two most common subspecies are the eastern raccoon (Procyon lotor lotor) and the Upper Mississippi Valley raccoon (Procyon lotor hirtus). Both have dark, long fur, but the Upper Mississippi Valley raccoon is bigger.
What Raccoons Look Like
From head to bottom, raccoons are about 40 to 70 centimeters (16 to 28 inches) long. Their bushy tail adds another 20 to 40 centimeters (8 to 16 inches), but it's usually not much longer than 25 centimeters (10 inches). They stand about 23 to 30 centimeters (9 to 12 inches) tall at the shoulder.
An adult raccoon's weight can change a lot depending on where it lives. They can weigh from 5 to 26 kilograms (11 to 57 pounds), but usually they are between 5 and 12 kilograms (11 and 26 pounds). The smallest raccoons live in southern Florida, and the biggest ones live in the colder northern areas. Males are usually 15% to 20% heavier than females. Before winter, a raccoon can weigh twice as much as it did in spring because it stores up fat. The heaviest wild raccoon ever recorded weighed 28.4 kilograms (62.6 pounds) and was 140 centimeters (55 inches) long!
The most unique thing about a raccoon's look is the black fur around its eyes. This "bandit's mask" stands out against its white face. Their slightly rounded ears also have white fur around them. Scientists think this mask and the striped tail help raccoons recognize each other. The dark mask might also help them see better at night by reducing glare. The rest of their fur is usually gray, with some brown. Raccoons with very dark fur are common in Germany because the first raccoons released there had this coloring. Their thick underfur keeps them warm in cold weather.
Raccoons usually walk on their whole foot, like humans do. They can stand on their back legs to use their front paws to check things out. Because their legs are short, they can't run very fast or jump far. Their top speed is about 16 to 24 kilometers per hour (10 to 15 mph) over short distances. Raccoons can swim at about 5 kilometers per hour (3 mph) and can stay in the water for several hours. When climbing down a tree headfirst, which is unusual for an animal their size, they can turn their back feet around to point backwards! Raccoons can also sweat and pant to cool themselves down.
Raccoon Senses
A raccoon's most important sense is its sense of touch. Their "super sensitive" front paws have a thin, hard layer that gets soft when wet. The five fingers on their paws are not webbed, which is unusual for a meat-eating mammal. Almost two-thirds of the part of the raccoon's brain that handles senses is used for touch! They can even identify objects using whiskers on their fingertips before actually touching them. Raccoons don't have a thumb that can touch their other fingers, so their paws aren't as nimble as a monkey's hands.
Raccoons might be color blind or not see colors very well, but their eyes are good at seeing green light. Even though they can see well in dim light because of a special reflective layer behind their retina, their eyesight isn't as important as their other senses because they don't see well far away.
Their sense of smell helps them find their way in the dark and communicate with other raccoons. They use special smells from their anal glands, urine, and poop to mark their territory. Raccoons also have great hearing. They can hear sounds up to 50–85 kHz and even quiet noises, like earthworms moving underground.
Raccoon Intelligence
Zoologist Clinton Hart Merriam called raccoons "clever beasts" and said their cunning was sometimes better than a fox's. Not many studies have looked at how smart raccoons are, but most of them focus on their sense of touch. In a study from 1908, raccoons were able to open 11 out of 13 complicated locks in fewer than 10 tries! They could even do it again when the locks were moved or turned upside down. The scientist concluded that raccoons understood how the locks worked and learned as fast as rhesus macaques (a type of monkey).
Other studies in the 1960s, 70s, and 90s showed that raccoons can remember how to solve problems for at least three years.
Raccoon Behavior
Social Life
Recent studies suggest that raccoons are not always solitary, as once thought. Female raccoons that are related often live in a "fission-fusion society." This means they share a common area and sometimes meet up to eat or rest. Males that are not related often form loose groups to protect their territory from other males, especially during the mating season. These groups usually have no more than four raccoons.
Mothers will stay away from other raccoons until their babies (called kits) are big enough to protect themselves, because some males can be aggressive towards young raccoons. Because of these different ways raccoons live, one scientist called their social structure a "three-class society."
The size of a raccoon's home area changes based on its age, sex, and where it lives. Adults usually have areas more than twice as large as young raccoons. If there's enough food, raccoons usually don't fight over their territories, except during mating season. They use scent marks to show their territory and identify each other. They also leave urine and poop at shared "raccoon latrines," which might tell other raccoons about good feeding spots. Raccoons have even been seen meeting at these spots to eat, sleep, and play together.
One interesting thing about raccoons is that about 10% to 15% of them will do the opposite of what is expected!
What Raccoons Eat
Even though raccoons are usually active at night, they sometimes come out during the day to find food. Their diet is about 40% invertebrates (like insects), 33% plant material, and 27% vertebrates (like small animals).
In spring and early summer, they mostly eat insects, worms, and other small animals. Later in summer and autumn, they prefer fruits and nuts, like acorns and walnuts, which give them lots of calories to store fat for winter. Raccoons don't often hunt large or active prey like birds or big mammals. They prefer food that's easier to catch, such as fish, amphibians, and bird eggs. Raccoons are known for eating eggs and baby animals from bird and reptile nests. In some cases, to protect endangered animals, raccoons might need to be moved away from nesting areas.
When there's plenty of food, raccoons can become picky and only eat certain things they really like. In colder northern areas, raccoons will rest during winter if there's too much snow to find food.
"Washing" Food
One famous raccoon behavior is why it's called Procyon lotor; "lotor" means "washer" in a old language. In the wild, raccoons often feel around for food underwater near the shore. They then pick up the food with their front paws to examine it and rub it, sometimes to remove unwanted parts. This makes it look like the raccoon is "washing" its food. Their sense of touch in their paws gets even better when they rub things underwater because the water softens the hard layer on their paws.
However, raccoons in the wild don't usually carry their food to water just to "wash" it before eating, like raccoons in zoos sometimes do. Some early naturalists thought raccoons needed to wet their food because they didn't produce enough saliva, but this idea is now thought to be wrong. Raccoons in captivity "wash" their food more often if there's a watering hole nearby that looks like a stream.
Raccoon Reproduction and Life Cycle
During the mating season, male raccoons travel around their home areas looking for females. After about 63 to 65 days of gestation (pregnancy), a mother raccoon usually gives birth to 2 to 5 young, called kits or cubs. The number of kits can vary a lot depending on where they live. More kits are born in areas where more raccoons die, for example, from hunting or harsh winters.
Newborn kits are blind and deaf, but their mask is already visible on their light fur. They are about 10 centimeters (4 inches) long and weigh between 60 and 75 grams (2.1 and 2.6 ounces). Their ears open after about 18 to 23 days, and their eyes open a few days later. When the kits weigh about 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds), they start to explore outside their den and begin eating solid food when they are 6 to 9 weeks old. After this, their mother breastfeeds them less often, and they are usually fully weaned by 16 weeks. In the fall, after their mother has shown them where to find dens and food, the young raccoons leave their family group. Many female kits will stay near their mother's home area, but males might move more than 20 kilometers (12 miles) away.
How Long Raccoons Live
Raccoons living in zoos have been known to live for over 20 years! But in the wild, raccoons usually only live for about 1.8 to 3.1 years. This depends on things like how much traffic there is, how much hunting happens, and how severe the winter weather is.
Where Raccoons Live
Even though raccoons have done well in areas with fewer trees recently, they still need tall structures to climb when they feel in danger. So, they avoid open fields and areas with many beech trees, because beech bark is too smooth to climb. Raccoons prefer to sleep, spend winter, and raise their young in Tree hollows in old oaks or other trees, and in rock cracks. If these aren't available, they might use burrows dug by other animals, thick bushes, or tree branches.
Since amphibians, crabs, and other animals living near lakes and rivers are an important part of a raccoon's diet, areas with lots of water, like lowland deciduous or mixed forests and marshes, have the most raccoons. In prairies, you might find 0.5 to 3.2 raccoons per square kilometer (1.3 to 8.3 per square mile). In forests on higher ground, there are usually no more than 6 raccoons per square kilometer (15.5 per square mile). But in lowland forests and marshes, there can be more than 20 raccoons per square kilometer (51.8 per square mile)!
Images for kids
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The mask of a raccoon is often interrupted by a brown-black streak that extends from forehead to nose.
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Female raccoon of the Vancouver Island subspecies at Sidney, British Columbia, with characteristic dark fur.
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Skeleton
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An albino Florida raccoon (P. l. elucus) in Virginia Key, Florida
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On the roof of a house in Albertshausen, Germany
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A skunk and a California raccoon (P. l. psora) share cat food morsels in a Hollywood, California, backyard
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A Florida raccoon (P. l. elucus) in the Everglades approaches a group of humans, hoping to be fed.
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Stylized raccoon skin as depicted on the Raccoon Priests gorget found at Spiro Mounds
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Automobile coat made out of raccoon fur (1906, U.S.)
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Pen with climbing facilities, hiding places, and a watering hole (lower-left-side)
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See also
In Spanish: Mapache boreal para niños
