*2.2.6 Raccoons*

The raccoon is a medium-sized mammal and the largest member of the family Procyonidae in order Carnivora. Raccoons (*Procyon lotor*) have masks on their faces that frequently illustrates them as robbers. They have soft, ringed tails and their bodies are variable in shades of gray, with hints of light brown (**Figure 22**). The forepaws of raccoons look like to small human hands with five toes that mark raccoons very agile [41].

The original habitats of the raccoon are deciduous and mixed forests, but due to their adaptability, they have extended their range to mountainous areas, coastal marshes and urban areas, where some homeowners consider them to be pests. It is usually nocturnal and omnivorous, its diet consists a variety of different foods, eating about 27% vertebrates, 33% plants and 40% invertebrates, but it prefers fruits and nuts. Wild populations prefer areas with trees and water nearby in addition to garbage cans. Raccoons are notorious for their love of sweet corn, and will also eat strawberries, melons, potatoes, peas, tree fruits and grubs. They will dig holes in maturing melons and munch on ripening tree fruits. Like squirrels, they also have been known to clean out bird feeders. They eat both mature and immature fruits of strawberries [42].

Raccoons are great climbers, swimmers, jumpers and runners. Their five-toed paws make them very dexterous and their agility can allow them to outsmart every human's concoction used to deter them. On fruit trees, place baffles on tree trunks to

**Figure 22.** *Raccoon.*
