With its black mask, ringed tail and remarkably nimble front paws, the northern raccoon, Procyon lotor, looks rather like a small bear dressed for a burglary. This is misleading.
Raccoons are not bears, although they belong to the same broad branch of the carnivore family tree.
Their closest living relations are other members of the family Procyonidae, including coatis, ringtails, cacomistles, olingos and kinkajous.
Together, they form an impressive clan of climbers, fruit thieves, insect hunters and nocturnal specialists, most of which live in the Americas.
The fossil story of raccoons is surprisingly patchy. Small, forest-dwelling omnivores do not always leave us a generous fossil record.
Their bodies are easily scattered, their habitats are not always ideal for fossilization, and they rarely have the decency to perish in large numbers somewhere convenient for future palaeontologists.
The wider raccoon family appears in the North American fossil record during the Early Miocene, more than 16 million years ago.
By the Late Miocene, recognizably raccoon-like procyonids were padding through North American forests. Fossils assigned to the genus Procyon—the group containing living raccoons—are known from the Late Miocene and Pliocene.
A newly described species, Procyon garberi, lived in Florida during the Late Miocene, showing that true raccoons were already experimenting with their familiar body plan millions of years before anyone invented the locking garbage bin.
By the Pleistocene—the great Ice Age—raccoons were widespread across North America.
Several fossil raccoons once given separate species names, including Procyon priscus, Procyon simus and the delightfully compact Procyon nanus, were later interpreted as variations of the living northern raccoon, Procyon lotor.
If that interpretation is correct, modern raccoons were sharing the continent with mammoths, mastodons, giant ground sloths, sabre-toothed cats and dire wolves.
Those giants disappeared. The raccoon remained.
Depending upon where they live and what is in season, they may eat berries, grapes, apples, nuts, acorns, corn, insects, worms, crayfish, frogs, fish, eggs, small animals and carrion.
They generally consume more invertebrates than vertebrates, but the governing principle appears to be: “Is this edible, and can I get my little hands on it?”
In towns and cities, the menu may expand to include garden produce, pet food, compost and whatever treasures have been placed inside a container clearly labelled “raccoon enrichment puzzle.” In my garden, they leave the tomato plants alone but eat most everything else.
Their native range stretches from southern Canada through most of the United States and Mexico into Central America. They inhabit deciduous and mixed forests, wetlands, river valleys, coastal areas, farmland, suburbs and cities.
Woodlands near water are particularly good raccoon country because they provide food, climbing trees and hollows for dens.
Raccoons have also been introduced to parts of Europe and Asia, including Germany and Japan, where some populations have become invasive. Their great adaptability, while admirable from a raccoon’s point of view, can create serious problems for native wildlife. Raccoons raid bird and turtle nests, compete for den sites and may carry diseases and parasites. Cute does not mean ecologically harmless. Nature is under no obligation to keep those two categories separate.
The raccoon’s scientific name, Procyon lotor, roughly means “washing procyon.” This refers to the famous habit of dipping and manipulating food in water.
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Their front paws contain an extraordinary concentration of sensory receptors, allowing them to examine objects through touch. Moisture may enhance the sensitivity of the skin, helping them feel and manipulate their food.
In other words, they are not politely washing supper. They are inspecting it with wet fingers.
Each front paw has five long digits. Raccoons do not have opposable thumbs, but they can grasp, pry, turn and open objects with astonishing skill. They can manipulate latches, lift lids and occasionally solve problems that humans believed had already been solved by purchasing a more expensive garbage bin.
I had a midnight explorer who used to come for a visit and search about the place when I lived near a park. I would see signs of mischief but never the burgular.
Now, I have a family living in the tree next door. Mamma takes her kits out early in the morning to forage.
Baby raccoons are called kits. They are born with faint masks and tail rings already visible, although their eyes remain closed for the first few weeks. A mother usually raises her kits alone, teaching them where to den, what to eat and, presumably, how to stand perfectly still on a fence while making prolonged eye contact with the homeowner.
Raccoons are primarily nocturnal, but I have been seeing them more and more in the day.
A nursing mother, a hungry youngster or an animal disturbed from its den may forage in daylight. As with all wildlife, however, raccoons should be admired from a respectful distance. They can defend themselves vigorously and may carry rabies in some regions.
There is something deeply impressive about an animal that survived the climatic upheavals of the Ice Age and then adapted to highways, suburbs, streetlights and wheelie bins.
The mammoths vanished. The sabre-toothed cats vanished. The giant ground sloths vanished.
The raccoon looked at the changing world, flexed its tiny fingers and said, “Interesting. Does this lid come off?”
