Scientific name:
Procyon

Natural spread:
North America, Europe, Asia

the most known representatives of the small-bears puts the American raccoons (Procyon lotor). With its penetrated shape and the dense, long fur, they seem clumsy. Raccoons become 40-60 cm big according to life-conditions and 1,8-22 kg heavy. At the spreads, spitzschnauzigen head sit rounds, moderate-sized ears. The legs are wise long, shortly hairy and works almost stilt-like under the rather massive body. The relatively short tail is gloomily curled. The feet are spreizbaren toes with pointed claws far fortified at this, the soles are bare and are put on completely when going. The fur is brown colored until black-gray; however, also completely white or also black copies occur. The head is marked through a black face-pack, that stretches from the cheek over the eyes and the nose-back to the other cheek. Directly, the mask brightens something for itself on the nose-back.

Habitat The raccoon is a typical representative of the American fauna, that is mainly in forested terrain near waters; it is to be found also in savannas and at the edge of semi-deserts, however, if only finding an open water in the proximity somehow is. However, this small-bear lives also with us in Central Europe since some years. Partially as an escapee from fur-farms, also consciously partially unfortunately stopped, it finds similar life-conditions with us like in North America and multiplied in such a way within short time that its continuance is to be expelled no probably more from Europe.

Types One distinguishes the North American one raccoon (Procyon lotor) and the South American one(s) crab-raccoon (P). cancrivorus, that works through its thin fur without sub-wool in the whole high-more legged. Furthermore, 5 smaller "island-raccoons" still exist on islands in the Pacific before Mexico, in the Caribbean and before Florida, that very rarely are, however, all.

Nutrition As its name already means, the crab-raccoon prefers crabs largely that it feels in the water-reasons and from the rear end auffrißt. The North American raccoon is a real omnivore, who adapts itself in its food-selection to the offer of the respective season on the best. it takes insects, worms, snails, mussels and various vertebrate just as gladly as all sorts of vegetable food, that can earn until half its food-plan. Here it doesn't spurn anything at ripe fruit and sweet fruits what it can only reach.

The animals often hold a several months' winter-silence, that is no real hibernation, in cold winters. During this, they lose until half its weight and therefore must put on itself a thick bacon-layer in the late summer and autumns. The raccoon recognizes its food mainly by means of his of feels and sense of smell.

"Clean" An use of the sense of touch is that name-giving "cleaning" of the food, that knows like us today, to do with cleaning or moistening of the food doesn't have anything. It rather seems as the raccoon with its paws feels a possible food and turns for a very long time it between its palms until it is aware of it whether testing this object with the nose is "worthwhile" in order to bite off finally carefully from it. In any case, an important function seems to "cleaning" to come at the recognition of the food. So, food is also "cleaned" drily independently by the water.

Way of life and reproduction Raccoons admittedly are loners, however, confrontations with Artgenossen go largely from the way. its residential-areas overlap and are normally not defended. The animals oversleep the day in a cave in a hollow tree. More rarely, the raccoon lives in a rock or Erdhöhle. Between January and March, that is the heat-time of the raccoons in North America, the males rove restlessly around until they found a female. For a short time, both sexes can now live together. The males often cover several females while the females admit only a male in each case.

In this time, loud fights, that one often hears kilometer-far in the winter-nights, occur also between the otherwise peaceful raccoon-males. After a Tragzeit from in the means brings the female in its cave 1-7 (on average 4) boy to the world 66 days. The throw-cave has no end-upholstery. The boys heavy in the birth approximately 70 g open the ears after the 13. and the eyes of the 14. Life-day. The mother suckles the boys 16-18 weeks, feeds already after the 30, however.-35. Meet solid food to. At the 40.-45. Meet left the boys the nest for the first time. After good 4 months becomes it independently, and the family dissolves. Then, the boys undertake bigger hikes in order to occupy own residential-areas. The sexually mature happens with approximately 1 years.