Procyon lotor (Linnaeus)
Raccoon
Description.—The raccoon is a relatively large carnivore with a stout, heavy body. Large adults measure three feet in length and weigh up to 20 pounds. The legs are of moderate length. The broad head tapers sharply to a pointed muzzle. The ears are erect, broad, low and rounded; the tail is long, about one-half the length of the head and body, bushy and round; the hind feet are large, flat and naked-soled but the forefeet are smaller with long, slim, handlike toes. The color of the body is a grizzled gray heavily washed with black on the back and sides. A jet-black "mask" across the eyes, sharply outlined by white muzzle and forehead, is the most distinctive feature of the head. The tail is alternately marked with six or seven black and five or six yellowish gray bands. The long, loose guard hairs give the body a shaggy appearance. The fur of the wrists is short, smooth, coarse, and directed downward.
The raccoon is not an aquatic mammal, yet it is closely associated with water, whether it be streams, rivers, lakes or the ocean. The favored habitat of the raccoon is the shore line. It is a wader and, if it can be considered as specialized for any occupation, it is wading in mud and shallow water. Its long toes, naked feet, and short-haired wrists are admirable adapted for walking on muddy bottoms or in shallow water. The coon is also at home on land. It moves swiftly and silently and when chased by dogs can cover miles in a few hours. It is an agile climber and lives in dens well up in trees.
The raccoon is almost completely nocturnal. Individuals are occasionally seen in the morning or evening, especially, when the tide is low along the ocean beach or Puget Sound. Near Fall City, King County, a small raccoon was seen eating a crayfish at 3:30 p.m. on a warm, sunny June day. In the eastern United States raccoons sleep during much of the winter, and probably they do the same in eastern Washington. In western Washington they are active most of the winter. Some trappers stated that the animals "hole up" in spells of unusually cold weather. Along the Tolt River, 10 miles southeast of Duvall, King County, their tracks were seen daily in January, 1936, although the temperature fell well below freezing each night.
Washington is near the northern limit of the range of the raccoon. The animal is reasonably common in western Washington, and ranges well up into the Cascade Mountains. The highest altitudinal record available is Longmire, Mount Rainier National Park ([Taylor] and [Shaw], 1927). Raccoons are not uncommon in southeastern Washington and in the Yakima Valley. They follow the Columbia River northward, as shown by tracks at Wenatchee on two occasions. The river valleys that flow into the Columbia in northeastern Washington seem admirably adapted for raccoons but the animal is rare there. Trappers who have lived and trapped in northeastern Washington for many years tell of seeing tracks at intervals of years along the Okanogan, San Poil, Colville and Kettle rivers. Several stated that tracks had been seen more often in recent years. Northeastern Washington seems to be the peripheral range of the species, occupied at rare intervals by animals wandering north from the Columbia River.
The food habits of raccoons are almost as varied as those of black bears. Animal matter forms their diet over most of the year; along stream courses crayfish, fish, thin-shelled fresh-water mussels, frogs (Hyla and Rana), and aquatic insects are eaten. Along beaches fish brought in by the tide, crustaceans, and mussels (Mytilus edulis) are taken; small sharks appear not to be eaten. A recently dead dogfish that lay on the beach at Whidby Island, Island County, was ringed by the tracks of a raccoon but had not been eaten. The shore crabs (Hemigrapsus nudus and Hemigrapsus oregonensis) are a favored food and regular items of diet. The edible crab (Cancer productus) is also eaten and in the San Juan Islands the porcelain crab (Petrolisthes eriomerus) was commonly eaten. Small mammals and birds are eaten regularly by this race of raccoon in California ([Grinnell], Dixon and Linsdale, 1937: 157), and the eggs and young of wild birds are sought in the spring (op. cit.: 158). The ability of the raccoon as a climber makes it a particular menace to nesting birds. Berries, including domestic blackberries and salmonberries, are eaten in quantity when available. Apples are dearly loved and the trees and orchards of abandoned ranches are regularly visited. The fondness of the raccoon for green corn is well known. Insects are present in small quantities in most droppings and in the late summer some feces were composed entirely of the remains of grasshoppers. Chickens, ducks, young turkeys and eggs are stolen and individuals become extremely adept at raiding hen-houses.
At one time, about 1920, the raccoon became scarce in western Washington as a result of heavy trapping and high price of the pelts. A closed season was strictly enforced until it again became common. The price received by the trapper for raw furs of raccoon has since been rather low, from two to ten dollars. With fur prices in this range, the number of raccoons probably will not be reduced to a dangerously low level by trapping, but instead may be expected to furnish a regular winter income to the trappers who do trap for it.
Raccoons are known to breed in their first year of life ([Pope], 1944: 91).