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nandn International Music Day
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nToday’sna great day to play music for your favorite raccoon.
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nOkay,nnot really. Raccoons are wild animals, and it’s best to leave themnalone—and to hope that they leave you alone, as well!
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nThisnNorth American mammal is very smart, and it sometimes intrudes onnpeople because it has figured out that people are a great source ofnfood. Raccoons sometimes come into people’s homes, even—I heard ofnone recently coming through a doggie door, and a couple of raccoonsnonce boldly walked through a friend’s open door!—so if you live innan area where raccoons are common, take precautions so that thesencritters don’t plunder your pantry!
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nRaccoonsnare known for their masked faces and for their dexterous front paws.n(Dextrous means skillful in handling things and doing thingsnwith one’s hands or, in the case of raccoons, paws.)
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nDonraccoons wash their food?
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nRaccoonsnoften douse their food in water—holding the food underwater andnusing their paws to examine it. Scientists speculate that thisnbehavior may be to spot and remove unwanted parts—and that they donthis in the water because that increases the sensitivity of theirnpaws by softening the horny layer on them. However, there isn’t muchncredible evidence that raccoons douse their food in the wild! Hmmm…
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nObservationsnof captive raccoons show that they do not douse “dirty” food morenor longer than food that doesn’t have soil or dust on it—so dousingnis not washing, and raccoons do not wash their food. Also, raccoonsnare much more likely to douse food if they have access to a verynnearby source of water that is or resembles a stream. They don’tncarry their food a long ways in order to “wash” it, nor do theynoften douse their food in, say, a bucket of water. Because of this,nscientists have a provisional theory that dousing is what is known asna “vacuum activity,” a behavior that evolved for a certain reasonnbut that now occurs even when that reason doesn’t apply. The behaviorncould have arisen as raccoons first evolved to forage at lake andnstream shores.
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n(Anprovisional theory means that scientists do not feel there is enoughnevidence to be very sure of the theory. Of course, all theories arenprovisional, in the sense that we can never be 100% sure of anythingnand science is always open to additional evidence. But many theories,nsuch as the theory that the Earth revolves around the Sun and thentheory that living things evolved from earlier organisms, are on muchnmore sure footing (the 99.99% kind), and the theory that raccoonsndouse their food as a vacuum activity is much, much less certain.nFurther observation and perhaps experimentation is needed.)
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nWhatndo raccoons eat?
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nEverything!
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nTheyneat a lot of insects, worms, and other invertebrates (animals withoutnbackbones). They eat bird eggs, baby birds, fish, and amphibians suchnas salamanders and frogs. In the summer and autumn, when nuts andnfruits are available, they eat a lot of these calorie-rich foods,nespecially walnuts and acorns. Once in a while, when they can catchnthem, raccoons eat small mammals. n
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nSona raccoon’s diet tends to be:
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n aboutn 40% invertebrates (worms, insects, etc.)
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n aboutn 33% plant materials (nuts, acorns, and fruits)
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n aboutn 27% vertebrates (eggs, birds, amphibians, fish, and mammals)
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nHere’snan idea: put these figures into a circle graph…
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nFindnout more about raccoons here, here, and here.
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nAlso,ncelebrate International Music Day!
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nEnjoynmusic of all kinds, from all places!
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nChecknout Putumayo Kids.
