The Raccoon
 

This intelligent dexterous animal lives in southern Canada, both in cities and in the wild. They enjoy living alongside streams or marshy areas.

They have ringed tails, and masked faces. The raccoon's fur is a reddish-brown color, and a darker grayish color underneath. They have  small ears, and also a bushy tail that has between 4 to 6 rings. They have five toes on both front and hind feet, and this enables them to do such things as opening jars, turn doorknobs or even untie a knot.

The raccoon has earned the nickname "masked bandit" due to its masked eyes, but also their dexterous feet allowing them to get into garbage cans and open doorknobs.

The raccoon enjoys living in old hollow logs or taking over another animals abandoned burrow. They are primarily nocturnal animals, and also omnivorous. This means they feed on food such as nuts, seeds, grubs or small insects, small mammals and eggs. 

Raccoons exhibit a phenomenon known as dabbling. This involves "washing" their food in the water. Many people believe that the raccoon washes its food before consumption, this is untrue. The water on the raccoons paws enhances its sense of touch. This helps the raccoon in two ways, firstly it enables the raccoon to find food that is under the water's surface, and secondly it enables the raccoon to sort out their food and decide which is and isn't edible.

An average of five young are born in April or May. This can take place in their hollow log home, or in a den that has been abandoned by another animal. The young stay with their mother until spring. They don't open their eyes until after 3 weeks, and remain in the den for a further 5 weeks.

Further Information on the Raccoon:

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