Common Raccoon
Procyon lotor
Summary 4
The raccoon (i/ræˈkuːn/, Procyon lotor), sometimes spelled racoon, also known as the common raccoon,North American raccoon,northern raccoon and colloquially as coon, is a medium-sized mammal native to North America. The raccoon is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of 40 to 70 cm (16 to 28 in) and a body weight of 3.5 to 9 kg (8 to 20 lb). Its grayish coat mostly consists of dense underfur which insulates against cold weather. Two of the raccoon's most distinctive features are its extremely dexterous...
Description 5
"Raccoons are among the most adaptable of the Carnivora, able to live comfortably in cities and suburbs as well as rural and wilderness areas. They use small home ranges, as small as 1—3 square km, and show flexibility in selecting denning sites, from tree hollows to chimneys to sewers. A varied diet is at the root of their adaptability. Raccoons eat just about anything, finding food on the ground, in trees, streams, ponds, and other wet environments, and from unsecured trash cans, which they open adroitly by hand. They can live anywhere water is available, from the deep tropics well into southern Canada. Even in the suburbs, Raccoons can occur at densities of almost 70 per square km. Females can breed when they are not yet a year old, and typically have litters of four young, which they raise themselves. The female nurses her cubs for about 70 days. The cubs' eyes open at 18—24 days and they begin exploring the world outside the den when they are 9—10 weeks old. By 20 weeks of age they can forage on their own."
Adaptation: As an adaptation to an omnivorous diet, the molars of the Northern Raccoon, Procyon lotor, have lost their flesh-eating crests and have evolved a blunt-cusped crow, which is more efficient in crushing and grinding tough foodstuffs.
Links:
Mammal Species of the World
Click here for The American Society of Mammalogists species account
Sources and Credits
- (c) Josh More, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), http://www.flickr.com/photos/41837219@N00/2729562910
- (c) D. Gordon E. Robertson, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/55/Raccoon_female.jpg/460px-Raccoon_female.jpg
- (c) Greg Lasley, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Greg Lasley
- (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procyon_lotor
- (c) Smithsonian Institution, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://eol.org/data_objects/16146953
