Raccoons

The raccoon is a compact, stocky mammal, about the size of a large cat or a small dog. It has a robust body with short front legs and large hind quarters. Adults stand about a foot high and average about 32 inches from nosetip to tail. They typically weigh between 14 and 24 pounds but large males--referred to as boars--may reach 40 pounds, and exceed 3 feet in length. Females are called sows. Both sexes look alike, except boars are about 15% larger than sows. The young are called kits.

The raccoon's head sports the well-known black "bandit" face mask that sweeps out across its cheeks. A rim of white fur outlines the mask, making it a very distinctive feature. The raccoon has a black pointed nose, and small but alert black eyes. The rounded, erect ears stand about an inch long and are tipped in silvery white. Another well-known feature of the raccoon is its long bushy tail with 5-8 dark rings circling its entire length. The black bands are separated by lighter areas of dull yellowish white. The tip of the tail is usually always dark. The tail is shorter than the body is long, about 8-16 inches in length.

The thick, coarse "salt and pepper" fur is about 1-2 inches long in tones of black, gray and brown with silvery white highlights. The back fur is darker than the grayish belly fur. Some unique individuals come in buff brown, mostly black or dull yellowish orange. Rare cases of pure black, white, or reddish raccoons may be found in the wild. Sometimes these colors occur more commonly in captive-bred raccoons due to selective breeding practices. When a raccoon emerges from its winter's den in spring, its coat often appears patchy because the animal has rubbed itself on the den walls all winter long. Raccoons shed these winter-weary coats over an extended period each summer. As fall approaches, their pelts thicken and prepare them for the cold months ahead. Their winter coat is thicker and glossier than their summer coat.

A raccoon's front paws leave prints that look like tiny hands. The 2-1/4 to 3-inch long paws are very agile and can easily turn and manipulate objects. The hind paws range in size from about 3-1/8 to 3-3/4 inches long. All paws have five toes, each bearing a short, curved, non-retractable claw. A raccoon makes a characteristic track along muddy shorelines. Its track consists of paired front and hind paw prints, with the left hind paw placed next to the right front paw as it lumbers along.

If you are near a waterway, look for piles of crayfish parts and clamshells. These telltale signs are good indications that a raccoon (or an otter) has been in the area. Since raccoons do not cover their droppings (called scat or feces by biologists) and because they tend to use the same "toilet" or "latrine" night after night you may find small piles of scat on rocks, logs, stumps or bases of hollow trees. Raccoon latrines are often found in piles outside their den trees. Their droppings are long and granular, often containing signs of what they have recently eaten....from crayfish to grape skins and seeds.

Sometimes you may be able to find bones of a raccoon in the wild. Raccoon skulls are quite distinctive. Look for both large canine teeth and grinding teeth, caracteristic of omnivores.

Raccoons have an excellent sense of hearing. They also have good eyesight and night vision. However, they have only a fair sense of smell and taste.

Their sense of touch is extremely well developed, especially in the soles of their flat, hairless black feet. They are constantly feeling around with their paws. Every glittering stone, every unusual object, every smelly tidbit catches their eye or nose and they will stop to inspect these objects with intense scrutiny.

A raccoon usually shuffles along with slow, deliberate steps. Perhaps because of its lumbering walk and the fact that its rear end stands higher than its front quarters, the animal looks rather clumsy. However, it can bound away very quickly to the nearest tree, climbing it with ease. Still, it seldom exceeds 15 mph and so can easily be caught by a dog. Raccoons are also strong, but slow, swimmers and are fond of wading in water up to the midpoint of their body.

Raccoons make a variety of sounds. If a dog, coyote or person corners the animal, it will snarl and growl harshly. If suddenly and badly frightened, it will make a rasping scream. During the warmer months, a raccoon will occasionally make a loud, long, tremulous, high-pitched whistle that sounds a bit like the call of a screech owl, though much more harsh in nature. On a quiet, windless night, this call can travel over a mile. Raccoons also "purrrr" or "churrr" loudly when they are content. Their low-pitched purr is used to call their young together. They grunt repeatedly to their kits to warn them of impending danger and sometimes they hiss in a scolding manner. Kits beg for food with a musical "orr-orr-orr", and cry and whimper like a child when hungry or deserted. They will squeal loudly if handled roughly or violently disturbed.

Raccoons typically live within a home range of 3-5 square miles. Boars tend to roam farther... up to 20 square miles. All raccoons will roam farther than normal if food becomes scarce. These mammals tend to live alone most of the year. Boars are very territorial and their home ranges seldom overlap. In late spring and summer, raccoons are often seen roving in family bands of the sow and her kits. You may sometimes find an entire family in one tree. In fall and winter a "coon tree" may contain as many as six animals huddled in the same den.

These ring-tailed masked mammals tend to be mild mannered and will run rather than fight if provoked. However, if cornered, they are an admirable adversary for any predator because they are very strong for their size.

Raccoons mate as soon as the winter temperatures begin to moderate, usually sometime between the last week in January and the middle of March. Sows breed only once a year. Boars breed with several females each breeding season. However, if a sow should lose her litter to predators or severe weather early in the year, she may attempt to mate again.

Males born the previous spring--called yearlings--generally do not breed. However, about 30% of yearling females may produce a litter. Approximately 80-90% of females that are one-year old or older successfully produce a litter each year. If late winter and early spring snows are deep, the raccoons may not be able to mate because it is too difficult to move about in the deep snow. In such cases, they will continue their attempt to breed as late as early summer. The problem with this late breeding is that the young will be smaller than normal as they enter into the fall and winter seasons.

Once a pair of raccoons have successfully mated, the boar plays no further part in family life. The sow, however, begins her search for a secure den site in which to bear and raise her young. She generally selects a hollow tree lined with nothing more than the old rotten wood of the cavity itself. She may also use an abandoned beaver lodge, muskrat house, abandoned woodchuck burrow, a cave or old mine, brush pile, rock outcropping, dense clump of cattails, haystack, culvert, storm drain, vacant shed, barn loft, and even an attic or a chimney in urban areas.

After the sow has nurtured the developing fertilized eggs inside her for 63 days, she gives birth in April or May to a litter of from two to nine kits. The average litter size is four kits. The babies are born as helpless, 2- to 3-ounce fuzzballs. Their eyes are closed but they have well-defined masks and they can crawl around in the den. The mother's milk nourishes them during their early weeks in the den. The kits grow rapidly once they are born. After 18 to 23 days, their eyes open, but they don't gain accurate sight until much later. They stay in the den until they are about 8 to 10 weeks old, nursing until they are 14 weeks of age.

By late May or early June, the kits are about two months old. They begin to sit outside their den on bright days and eventually make short trips away from the den. The young are very curious and playful. They frequently play by themselves or with their siblings. Even older animals will play by themselves. They are extremely curious and will snoop around and investigate just about anything. In this manner they learn quickly about the world around them.

By July, the sow leads her kits to the nearest source of food. It is not uncommon to see family groups romping through trees or along creekbanks in late summer evenings.

By late summer and early fall, they begin to establish their independence and a territory of their own. Sometimes by late fall, the families split up. In other instances, the young "den up" with or near their mother during their first winter. The yearling raccoons then strike off on their own the following spring, when they are 13-14 months old. By then, the sow needs the home den for her next litter of kits that she will produce that year. Raccoons live, on average, only about 5 or 6 years in the wild, but can live up to 14 years when cared for in zoos.

Yearling females don't tend to travel very far from where they were born. On the other hand, yearling males may travel up to 5 miles away from their birth den. Adults are no stranger to long treks. As a local population of raccoons grows and the food resources diminish, raccoons typically disperse up to 30 miles away from their birth site. Some have been reported to travel as far as 160 miles or more, though such great distances are rare.

Raccoons are nocturnal which means that they are most active all night long, from about an hour before sunset to an hour after sunrise. The boars tend to move farther than the sows at night. During the daytime, raccoons that live in swamps or marshes rest in beds located on high ground or in old beaver lodges. Raccoons that live in forests may rest in hollow trees, old leaf nests built by tree squirrels or abandoned nests of large birds during spring and autumn. In agricultural areas they may find haven in old barns and abandoned outbuildings. Sometimes raccoons will seek shelter in rock crevices, burrows or caves. Raccoons use more than one resting area and seldom use the same site two days in a row. The distances between their various resting sites may be a mile or so.

When the snow falls or when temperatures drop to 20 degrees Fahrenheit or lower, raccoons retire to their winter dens until warmer weather returns. They curl up in a ball or lay on their backs with their front paws covering their eyes. This long period of winter sleep is not a state of true hibernation since raccoons do not experience the near-death reduction in heart rate, body temperature, respiration or metabolism that occurs in true hibernating mammals such as chipmunks, ground squirrels or woodchucks. If temperatures reach 32 degrees Fahrenheit and if the snow isn't too deep, raccoons often wake up and forage outside for food.

A raccoon's diet varies throughout the year, but the animal will eat just about anything depending on what's ripe and in season. Biologists call animals with this varied diet omnivores which means they eat both plants and animals. The furry mammals relish plums, gooseberries, blackberries, blueberries, dogwood berries, wild cherries, currants, wild grapes, apples and hawthornes. They find acorns, hazelnuts and beechnuts quite appealing when in season. They will also eat the shoots and tender buds of many trees as well as the seeds from such plants as ragweed and smartweed.

Raccoons travel and feed exclusively at night, beginning as soon as the sun goes down. They roam up to a mile each night in search of food. Sometimes raccoons will climb through tree tops in anticipation of catching a sleeping squirrel or bird or a bird eggs. In old pastures, hayfields or along roadsides, raccoons are noted for raiding nests of pheasants, wild turkeys and other ground nesting birds.

These roving mammals are a major predator of turtle eggs. In June, turtles come ashore to dig shallow pits along sandy ridges in which to deposit their rubbery-shelled eggs. Often that same night, raiding raccoons dig the eggs out in a feeding frenzy. Raccoons also will grub about in the mud for crayfish, snails, baby turtles and clams. Frogs are a staple of the raccoon's summer diet. They have also been known to sit by the water's edge and grasp shallow-swimming fish with their sharp claws and dexterous fingers. They eagerly devour the crunchiest grasshoppers and crickets or the slitheriest of small snakes. Raccoons even eat dead animals, called carrion.

Much of the raccoon's native foods have been reduced or eliminated due to people's increasing destruction of wild habitats. Therefore, raccoons are forced to rely on food sources supplied by people, which, in turn, leads to nuisance complaints by those people. In urban areas, raccoons are known to raid garbage cans, bird feeders, and outdoor pet food dishes. If they find a particularly good source of food, the raccoons come back again and again, often at the same time each night. Many a park camper knows all too well how these night-time bandits readily whisk away any tasty tidbits left on the picnic table or in an unlocked cooler.

In agricultural areas, field corn is an important food for raccoons during winter and early spring. The animals are especially destructive to cornfields when the ears are in the milk stage (when the kernels are plump and juicy). Home gardeners, also know the raccoon's appetite for sweet corn. The coons usually raid the plot a day or two before the gardeners were planning on picking their corn! Raccoons also love cantaloupes, watermelons and tomatoes.

Raccoons eat their food using their paws, often sitting upright on their haunches. Folklore is rich with tales of how they take their food to the water's edge to "wash" it or "play" with it. Actually, raccoons do not always dunk their food, even when near water, and they certainly don't hesitate to eat a tasty morsel when water isn't nearby. Sometimes raccoons rub their food as though they are washing it even when they are not near water. Many theories have been proposed to explain this strange habit bu--so far--raccoons are the only ones that know why they "wash" their food.

As autumn approaches, raccoons heed an inner call to build up fat reserves so they can make it through the cold wintry months ahead. Adults eat more during the autumn than at other times of the year. By late fall, they've generally put on more than an extra inch of fat. Between summer and mid-November, juvenile raccoons may increase their weight more than 120%!. This added fat provides them with the energy and insulation they need during their long winter naps.

By spring, many raccoons have lost as much as 50% of their total body weight, mostly the fat they put on during autumn. Sick or injured adults, as well as late-born juveniles, often cannot build adequate fat reserves and so often die of starvation before the winter is over.

The major causes of death for raccoons in Wisconsin are trapping, motor vehicle collisions, disease and predation. Starvation is seldom an important population regulator. As trapping declines, mortality from the other causes increases.

Being large, night-dwelling mammals that are very agile tree climbers, raccoons have few natural enemies. Kits and unwary young, however, sometime fall prey to foxes, coyotes, wolves, bobcats, great horned owls and domestic dogs. The adult raccoon's dense fur, powerful muscles and mouth full of sharp teeth aid it greatly when it comes to a fight. Pound for pound most adult raccoons can beat any dog their size. When pursued by a dog, person or another predator, a raccoon makes clever dodges as it runs, and obscures its trail by running to the nearest stream. Then it hightails it to the nearest tree where it can remain clinging to the trunk all day without any apparent problem of withstanding its own weight or in losing strength in its limbs.

Many raccoons are hit along the roadsides during spring when they first emerge from their winter dens and are still a little drowsy. Also in the summer when the sows are with their unwary kits, entire families of raccoons are prone to being hit by motor vehicles.

Raccoons face a wide variety of diseases and infections. Disease is most prevalent in populations that become too abundant for their habitat. Disease is more likely to occur in residential areas and in parks where hunting and trapping are prohibited than in rural areas where hunters and trappers help reduce the overabundance of these animals.

Viral diseases, such as parvovirus, canine distemper, and rabies often lead to the slow and tortured death of the infected individual. Parvovirus was responsible for the deaths of many Wisconsin raccoons in 1982. Distemper has also been the source of several major raccoon epidemics in the state. The most recent outbreak of distemper occurred in 1983. Rabies is capable of producing extensive widespread deaths when outbreaks spread through a dense population of raccoons. These "waves" of outbreaks occur periodically throughout the United States. Four cases of rabies in Wisconsin raccoons were positively diagnosed in 1982. These had been the first reports of rabid raccoons in Wisconsin since the mid 1960's. In 1983, over 1,600 rabid raccoons were reported in the mid-Atlantic States. In Wisconsin, raccoons with rabies is not common.

Raccoons also suffer from tuberculosis, pneumonia and encephalitis. Encephalitis causes the brain to become inflamed, and produces spasms, convulsions, paralysis and eventually coma and death. The Balisascaris round worm which occurs in 50 to 80 percent of Illinois raccoons has been found in Milwaukee and Ozaukee counties. This roundworm is fatal not only to the raccoon, but also to people and pets. Raccoons are also hosts for a parasitic nematode that causes trichinosis. Infections caused by other parasitic roundworms, tapeworms and flukes of the intestine and internal organs are generally not lethal to the animal. However, when these worms become extremely abundant in the animal, they can cause health complications. Raccoons are also plagued with external parasites such as biting and sucking lice, ticks and fleas.

Diseases of wildlife are important to people, not only because of the damage they do to wild animals, but also because some diseases, such as trichinosis and rabies, pose a health threat to people and domestic animals.

By far, the greatest predator of raccoons is people. Even before the first white settlers came to Wisconsin, Native Americans killed raccoons for food and clothing. Today these fur-bearing mammals are stilled much valued for their rich, warm pelts and their tasty meat.

Raccoons provide people with a good source of protein. "Coon feeds" are a custom in rural Wisconsin. Some folks say raccoon meat tastes similar to lamb, but with a higher fat content. Small raccoons are the best tasting, since large boars tend to be very gamey in flavor. The scent glands under the legs and along the spine near the rump as well as all external fat should be carefully trimmed away prior to cooking because these contribute to gaminess. Since raccoons can carry nematode worms that cause trichinosis in people, the meat must be thoroughly cooked.

Come autumn, coon hunters take to the frosty night-time woods and deep swamps with hound dogs they have been trained to trail the raccoon. The hounds range far searching for the scent of a raccoon. Once they have found the scent, they begin trailing the animal, baying and loudly yowling. Hound owners, who know the terrain and the voices of their dogs, follow the progress of the chase. The outcome between hound and raccoon is always uncertain. An especially intelligent and experienced raccoon can lay a trail that the finest dog cannot decipher. Once the hounds have treed a raccoon, the hunter shines a headlamp on the animal to ensure an accurate kill. The hunter usually uses a .22 rifle for quickly and humanely killing the animal.

Trappers also take many raccoons because they have rich and valuable pelts. Raccoon fur is extremely durable and makes high quality fur coats, collars, hood trims and hats. Clipped and dyed fur produces a luxurious product. Unlike synthetic fibers, such as polyester, fur is a naturally-renewable form of warm clothing for people.

Wisconsin's coon hunters and trappers play an important role in the population management of raccoons. Were it not for them keeping the population lower than nature would allow, farmers, gardeners and suburbanites would have more than their fair share of headaches and complaints. Also, higher densities of raccoons lead to outbreaks of the diseases described above which lead to poor health conditions if not slow, suffering deaths of the infected animals.

Raccoons live along the edges of woods and farm fields, in swamps, or along streams. They prefer hardwood forests to conifer forests, especially those near streams or marshes. These furbearers are common from southern Canada to Central America, though they are absent in some of the more mountainous regions in the west. They are native only to the North American continent, though attempts have occured to establish them in parts of Russia.<\p>

Raccoons occur throughout Wisconsin, in every county. They are more numerous in the southern part of the state than in the northern counties, because the winters are milder in the south, there are more areas of favorable habitat and there are more food resources available in the southern counties than up north.

Raccoons have adapted well to life in Wisconsin Raccoons have very healthy populations in Wisconsin. Whenever the price of fur drops, trappers generally put less pressure on raccoons and then their populations soar. The price of fur began dropping in the early 1980's as animal rights activists protested the killing of all animals. Today, demand for fur is at an all-time low in European countries in the face of vocal animal rights activists. As a result, raccoon populations have soared and are causing increased agricultural damage and urban nuisance complaints. The soaring populations have also lead to outbreaks of disease and an ultimate slow death of diseased individuals. More and more raccoons are found dead along roadsides due to night-time vehicle collisions. Still, the demand for the renewable clothing resource provided by the raccoon is on the rise in the United States, Russia and the Orient.

The population density of raccoons varies widely from one raccoon per acre to one raccoon per 150 acres. The average raccoon density in Wisconsin's prime raccoon habitats is generally around one animal per 30-40 acres. The higher raccoon densities are found in river bottoms and agricultural areas that are well interspersed with woodlands and waterways. Medium raccoon densities occur in woodlands, wetlands, prairies, new residential areas built in farm fields and in expansive farmfields. Low densities are common in extensive evergreen forests. In older residential areas where food may be abundant, and cover is plentiful, raccoon densities can approach one animal per 12-20 acres.

Raccoon populations generally consist of a high proportion of young animals, with 1/2 to 3/4 of the fall population composed of animals less than one year old. Winter severity, food abundance, hunting and trapping pressure, and levels of disease and parasitism ultimately determine the density of local raccoon populations.

Since raccoons are so abundant in Wisconsin, most wildlife management emphasis is on regulating the hunting and trapping seasons to help control the size of the population. However, individuals interested in managing their lands for raccoons can focus on restoring habitats along streams and rivers and preserving large den trees.

Raccoons have played an important part in our continent's fashion and economic arenas long before the arrival of European settlers. A chief of the Powhatan, an early Native American tribe near Fort James of the Virginia Colony, presented Captain John Smith with a luxurious coonskin robe in the early 1600s. By the time of the American Revolution, the famous coonskin cap was being worn by Daniel Boone and many other frontiersmen, with the tail hanging rakishly to one side. During the European settlement of the Mississippi River Valley, coonskins were often used in place of money.

In the 1920s, college-aged boys wore raccoon coats which were all the rage at that time. This drove the price of raccoon pelts through the roof and placed heavy hunting pressure on raccoons. Between 1936 and 1949, the Wisconsin Conservation Department sponsored a major raccoon propagation and release program in which over a thousand raccoons were released during some years. The program was discontinued after wildlife field research concluded that raising and releasing raccoons did not significantly supplement the low raccoon numbers present at the time. In the 1950s, raccoon pelt prices peaked again when Walt Disney's Davy Crockett brought coonskin caps into popularity again. During the late 1950's and 1960's, raccoons in Wisconsin expanded their range and increased in numbers to the present level.

Some people find young raccoons after a raccoon family is evicted from a neighbor's chimney or attic, or after the mother dies of an accident. Forget the raccoon's lovable, masked face, its adorable little "baby hands" and its cute, striped tail. A wild raccoon baby quickly transforms into a surly adult. With its insatiable curiosity, and dexterous hands, a raccoon can literally turn a house upside down, opening doors, drawers and cupboards, pulling down curtains and knocking over every knick-knack, china plate and piece of furniture in the place. After a raccoon has finished with a cabin or house, it looks as if a furry cyclone ran amok. Then, when the wild pet gets really bored, it can turn on the hand that feeds it, using its 40 sharp teeth to inflict some really nasty bites. Avoid any raccoon which is active during daylight hours, has lost its fear of people, and appears uncoordinated, confused, or listless. If you encounter an animal displaying these symptoms, contact your local DNR office immediately.

So, if you thought a big-footed, floppy-eared puppy-turned-shoe-eating-machine was a problem, think again! Raccoons DO NOT make good pets! While some states, such as South Carolina, legally allow raccoons to be kept as pets, Wisconsin has sought to protect its wildlife and its citizens by making it illegal to keep any wild mammal as a pet. A raccoon raised in captivity cannot easily return to a life in the wild because it learns to rely on human handouts. It is not in the best interest of the raccoon, and it is not safe for you to keep raccoons or other wild animals in captivity. If you are positive that a young raccoon you find has not been orphaned, then you should try to make every attempt to get it back to its mother. If you know for a fact that the mother has been killed, contact your local DNR office for the name of a licensed wildlife rehabilitator who can take in the young raccoon and give it proper care.

Raccoons are well adapted to living in urban and suburban residential areas where people provide them with an abnormally protective environment including food and shelter. As one news reporter in southeast Wisconsin put it: "Counting raccoons running across rooftops has become a popular substitute for counting sheep for many urban dwellers who suffer from insomnia!" In Milwaukee and other cities, the raccoon population is running rampant. Where once these cute clown-like critters were appreciated by suburbanites they are rapidly becoming very unwelcomed guests that leave unique calling cards behind: overturned trash cans, earless sweetcorn husks, seedless bird feeders, ripped-up sod and tulip bulbs, complete messes in residential chimneys, attics, and other places where people don't want them. If the raccoon populations are not controlled through active wildlife management techniques, the alternative is often a long, cruel, painful death from diseases which can also be spread to people. Trapping raccoons is one technique used by wildlife biologists and animal nuisance control specialists to keep populations down to a point where people can enjoy the animals rather than having to consider the animal a danger or a nuisance.

Raccoons irritate farmers when they raid cornfields and rob the chicken coop. They are especially devastating on an unlatched hen roost--killing many chickens and feasting there night after night. In addition, raccoons love to shuffle along the ground in a field, marsh or woodland in spring, looking for nests of ducks, grouse, pheasant, and quail. They may sometimes catch an unlucky hen on her nest, but will always consume any unattended eggs. Their raids can drastically reduce a local population of these game birds, much to the displeasure of hunters. They exhibit insatiable curiosity and an innate tendency toward great mischief once they enter an unoccupied cabin, trailer or tent. They investigate all flour, sugar and snack sacks left on the counters and shelves, open covers of food jars with very dexterous hands, lift the lids off coolers, and uncork bottles with the greatest of ease. Very little escapes their attention and almost nothing is left untouched.