While a lot of people tend to turn their noses up at the idea of raccoons, I happen to find them positively adorable, and I always have. They have garnered a poor reputation in the sense that they’re scavengers and will often raid someone’s garbage collection, but we’re all a little destructive from time to time.
Blaine and I have a raccoon residing in one of the barns on our property, and because I feed the stray cats that also reside in said barn, the raccoon has been eating real good. He or she has also become quite comfortable with Blaine and me, and we can easily get within two feet of it without spooking it off. I’ve been seeing more of the raccoon as of late, and it inspired me to dedicate a post to these curious critters; this information comes from treehugger.com.
“1. They Are Opportunistic Eaters
“Raccoons are omnivores and opportunistic eaters, which means they feed on whatever is most convenient. Their meals include nuts, berries, fruits, acorns, grasshoppers, mice, fish, frogs, insects, small mammals, and ground-dwelling birds and their eggs.1 Raccoons are also adept scavengers. They rummage through garbage cans and compost piles and steal pet food left outside overnight. They climb bird feeders and dine on birdseed, as well.
“2. They Seem to Wash Their Food Before Eating It
“Procyon lotor (lotor meaning ‘the washerman(‘)), is the Latin name for the raccoon. If you watch raccoons eating you’ll notice that they often seem to wash their food before dining. If there’s no water around, they still go through the same motions, moving their forepaws around on their food and lifting it up and down. However, researchers say it’s not a cleanliness habit that drives this behavior.
“Wildlife biologists believe that raccoons have sensitive nerves on the fingers of their front paws. When they forage for food in water, they feel around with their paws to gather sensory information. In a study of 136 raccoons, researchers in Nova Scotia found that wetting the skin on the raccoon’s front paws helped increase the responsiveness of those nerves. But even when there’s no water around, the dunking ritual helps them grip their food and get it to their mouths,2” the web page states.
Check back tomorrow for more.
Photo by Gary Bendig on Unsplash
