Demystifying Raccoons! Interesting Facts About Them
Raccoon is a medium sized mammal found in the continent of North America
. They are considered extremely intelligent animals. They are mostly active during the night. They are omnivorous and feed mostly on insects and small animals. They are similar to foxes in terms of their appearance and are famous for their unique paws and facial mask. They have featured in many stories of North American mythology and folklore. Here are some interesting facts about this unique creature:
1. Bandit's Mask
Raccoons are known to possess black fur around their eyes. This black fur appears like a bandit's mask and has given a notorious image to the animal. This black fur helps in enhancing the night vision which is essential for a nocturnal animal.
2. Ability to climb trees
Raccoons possess the unique gift of being able to climb trees which is strange for an animal of its size. The ability to rotate its hind feet enables it to perform this task. This natural gift aids in protection from larger animals and in hunting small animals for food.
3. Sense of touch
Raccoons have a hypersensitive front paws that give them great capability to sense things through touch.
4. High auditory range
Raccoons possesses a remarkably high auditory range. They can even hear sounds as low as 50 KHZ. This feature helps them greatly while hunting insects that are very quiet in their movements.
5. High intelligent quotient
Scientific research have proved that raccoons possess a very high level of intelligence and strong memory. They are considered as intelligent as some of the creatures of the ape community.
6. Raccoons as food
Though carnivorous animals are not usually considered for consumption, but barbecued raccoon is considered a exotic delicacy by the native North American Indians.
7. Hunting
Raccoons are hunted in North America for their fur. In the 1920's wearing a raccoon coat was considered a status symbol among young Americans.
8. Raccoons and people
A large number of raccoons have intruded in to urban areas in recent times due to large scale deforestation. Areas like Richmond Virginia in USA are largely infested by raccoons. Raccoons are suspected of carrying rabies, so many people in Richmond Virginia have employed Raccoon removal Richmond VA expert services for removing raccoons from their houses and commercial properties. While other people have a different attitude towards them who feed them and even adopt them as pets.