365 Urban Species. #086: Raccoon

[urbpan]

photo by cottonmanifesto

Urban species #086: Raccoon Procyon lotor

At my job, taking care of caged animals in a woodland setting, the wild raccoons are my enemy. Early on I realized that I was at war with "raccoon nation," as I termed them. These crafty beasts are armed with intelligent minds and dextrous hands. They can climb any fence and can reach through fencing to grab caged birds. They eat nearly anything, and have a knack for an easy meal. Their ability to open trash cans, and to raid campgrounds, is legendary. Dave Barry has said that if we ever want to get to the planet Venus, we need to convince the raccoons that there's food there, and then follow them.

Raccoons are among the largest of urban mammals, weighing up to 25 pounds. They can survive in large city parks and wooded neighborhoods because they are nocturnal, and spend the daytime sleeping in holes in trees. They can live in almost any environment, but have a strong desire to be near water. Besides trash and pet food, urban raccoons feed on the fruit of landscaping plants, and on various small animals.

I'm hoping that cottonmanifesto will post her story of the raccoons in the Boston neighborhood of Allston.

Comments

[izzy23.livejournal.com]

urban raccoons feed on the fruit of landscaping plants and small animals.

Cool. Which small animals bear fruit?

Sorry--bad copyeditor instinct! Bad! Bad!

I love the pics. You should check out vyoma's journal--he's got a couple regular visitors to his back porch, and he's turned them into photo subjects. He hasn't been posting much lately, so you may have to go back several months to find entries.

I've read more than one cute sf story that theorized that after we wipe ourselves out, the 'coons will be the next species to evolve human-like intelligence.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Cool. Which small animals bear fruit?

!!

Very good! I'll fix that. I appreciate having many copy editors.

vyoma and I are old (livejournal) friends. I'm sad that he's such a good student that I don't get to read his journal very often. His Goodall-esque relationship with his raccoons is pretty amazing.