The raccoon ( Procyon lotor ), also known as the North American raccoon, northern raccoon, or common raccoon, is a medium-sized mammal native to North America and the largest member of the Procyonidae family. Raccoons are known for their adaptability and intelligence, which has allowed them to thrive in diverse environments. Their diet is a key factor in their success, as they are omnivorous and opportunistic eaters. This article delves into the dietary habits of raccoons, exploring what they eat in different environments, how their diet changes with age, and the implications of their food choices.
Physical Characteristics and Adaptations
The adult raccoon typically measures 24 to 38 inches in length and weighs between 14 to 23 pounds, with males (boars) being slightly larger than females (sows). A raccoon’s most distinctive feature is the mask of black fur around its eyes, which may reduce glare and enhance night vision. Their grayish-brown fur, with a dense underfur, insulates them against cold weather. The tail has five to eight alternating light and dark rings. Hind legs are longer than front legs, giving them a hunched appearance when walking or running.
Raccoons have highly dexterous front paws with five toes that function almost like little fingers. This allows them to grasp and manipulate food and other objects, including doorknobs and latches. Their sense of touch is highly developed, especially in their front paws, which becomes even more sensitive underwater.
An Omnivorous Diet
Raccoons are omnivorous and opportunistic eaters, meaning their diet is heavily influenced by their environment and the availability of food. Common foods include fruits, plants, nuts, berries, insects, rodents, frogs, eggs, and crayfish. In urban environments, they often sift through garbage for food.
Preferred Foods
Raccoons prefer foods found in or near water, such as crayfish, frogs, fish, snails, and clams. They also consume insects, eggs, fruits, vegetables, and nuts. While not expert hunters, they occasionally catch young mice, rats, or squirrels.
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Dietary Adaptations
Raccoons are adaptable, allowing them to alter their diet based on their habitat. For example, raccoons in urban areas may come to expect food from humans. As scavengers, they can eat almost anything, making them successful in various environments.
Raccoon Diet in Different Environments
Raccoons are native to North America and can be found throughout the United States (except for parts of the Rocky Mountains and southwestern states), as well as in parts of Canada, Mexico, and northern South America. Originally, they lived in tropical areas, foraging along riverbanks. Over time, they adapted to new territories and expanded their diet, moving north across the continent.
Urban Environments
Raccoon populations thrive in urban areas due to hunting and trapping restrictions, a lack of predators, and an abundance of human food. In these environments, they often consume garbage, pet food, and other discarded items.
Rural Environments
In rural areas, raccoons forage for natural food sources such as fruits, nuts, insects, and small animals. They traditionally live in tree cavities or burrows, emerging at dusk to hunt.
Seasonal Variations
During the spring and summer, raccoons are voracious feeders, gorging themselves to store body fat for the winter. They spend most of their time in their dens during the winter. The ratio of plant to animal food in their diet varies by season, depending on what is available.
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What Baby Raccoons Eat
Baby raccoons, or kits, primarily rely on their mother's milk for nourishment during the first few weeks of life. It typically takes about 16 weeks for them to be fully weaned. As they grow and reach around one pound in weight, they start to eat solid foods.
Mother's Milk
During the first three weeks of life, baby raccoons are blind and mute, relying solely on their mother’s milk. Mother raccoons feed their young about five times per day.
Solid Foods
Once they can eat solid food, baby raccoons are not very picky with their diets and will eat almost anything. They learn how to forage for food from their mothers after about 12 weeks.
The "Washing" Behavior
The raccoon’s scientific name, Procyon lotor, refers to their well-known behavior of "washing" food. In the wild, raccoons often dabble for underwater food near the shoreline, picking up food items with their front paws to examine and rub them, sometimes to remove unwanted parts. This gives the appearance of "washing" the food.
Tactile Sensitivity
The tactile sensitivity of raccoons’ paws increases underwater, as the water softens the hard layer covering the paws. This enhances their ability to find and identify food.
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Captive vs. Wild Behavior
Captive raccoons often carry their food to water to "wash" or douse it before eating, but this behavior is not commonly observed in the wild. Naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, once believed that raccoons douse their food because they do not have adequate saliva production to moisten it, but this hypothesis is now considered incorrect. The widely accepted theory is that dousing in captive raccoons is a fixed action pattern derived from the dabbling behavior used when foraging for aquatic foods.
Social Behavior and Diet
Raccoons were previously thought to be solitary animals, but there is now evidence that they engage in sex-specific social behavior. Related females often share a common area, while unrelated males live together in groups to maintain their positions during the mating season.
Hunting and Feeding Habits
Raccoons tend to hunt during the night and dine alone. They are voracious feeders, especially during the spring and summer, when they gorge themselves to store body fat for the winter. Adult raccoons breed between January and June, depending on the environment and environmental conditions.
Territoriality
Raccoons are territorial, preferring forested terrain with ponds, lakes, marshes, or streams. They are not found in terrain that lacks evergreen forests and water.
Impact of Human Interaction on Raccoon Diets
Human activities have significantly impacted the diet and behavior of raccoons. Urbanization has led to increased interactions between humans and raccoons, with raccoons adapting to man’s environment by denning in attics and chimneys, using storm sewers as subways, and consuming pet food left outdoors.
Feeding Raccoons
Feeding raccoons is not recommended, as it can lead to dependency on human food and disrupt their natural foraging habits. It can also bring them closer to human homes, increasing the likelihood of property damage and disease transmission.
Health Concerns
Raccoons are carriers of various diseases, such as rabies, and can contract feline and canine distemper, leptospirosis, salmonellosis, and toxoplasmosis. They also carry parasites such as roundworm, tapeworm, flukes, and heartworms.
Raccoons as Pests
In their quest for food, raccoons may invade gardens and homes, causing structural damage by tearing ducts, chewing wires, and damaging insulation.
Conservation and Management
Raccoons are common throughout North America, from Canada to Panama. They have also been introduced to several European and Asian countries. Due to their adaptability, raccoons have not been restricted to increasingly smaller areas of natural habitat by urban development.
Controlling Raccoons
To deter raccoons from coming near homes, visual aids such as flashing lights, audio tools such as portable radios, and scent or taste cues such as spicy sprays can be used.
Raccoon Rehabilitation
Wildlife rehabilitators play a crucial role in caring for injured or orphaned raccoons. However, it is important to ensure that raccoons are released in appropriate environments with plenty of water, no hunting, and people willing to feed them until they can find their own food.