Although They Look As If They Are Harmless and Adorable Night Critters, They Have Been

The raccoon (Procyon) are a group of nocturnal animals with three different species belonging to the Procyonidae family. The common raccoon, has known habitats through out; North America (Southern Canada), Central America and South America. The other two species, Tres Marias Raccoon (P. insularis), and Crab-eating Raccoon (P. cancrivorus) are known to be habitants of the Tres Marías islands off the Pacific Coast of Mexico and tropical Central and South America respectively. Naturally my discussion will be based around the common raccoon (P. lotor). Raccoons range from 51-102 cm in length (including the tail) and weigh between 10 and 4.5-16 kg. The raccoon's tail ranges from 20-40 cm in length. Raccoons can live up to 16 years in the wild, though most do not make it through their second year.

Although they look as if they are harmless and adorable night critters, they have been proven to be a nuisance and pest during the night. Nonetheless, their social behaviors are much like those of humans, which make the Procyon, an interesting study. I found a group of raccoons, clustering an open garbage bag, which made me, question my ideology that all raccoons were isolated and lonely organisms. Much like humans they show gender-specific social behavior. Females of the same family live in a fusion-fission society, where the social group sleeps in the same area during the day but during the night rummage around in smaller groups (fission). The different socials groups then return a meeting place and share food (fusion). This fusion-fission society is also common in primates and also other carnivores. Therefore the area where I encountered the group of raccoons could have been there ‘fusion’ area since they were all ‘sharing’ one source of food. The unrelated males do live together in a different sort of social group, in order to protect them selves from invaders. If food supply is sufficient then there is limited hostility between social groups and home ranges can overlap without much conflict. However when food is scarce males generally act more aggressive towards the young. Another shared similarity is between humans and raccoons are they also meet in social settings of eating, playing and sleeping. Overall this was a very interesting study.