Discover Life | All Living Things | IDnature guides | Mammalia | Procyonidae | Procyon lotor

Species Description

• Adult total length: 25 - 41 in. (650 - 1,050 mm)

• Tail: 7 - 12 in. (190 - 300 mm)

• Hind foot: 2 1/2 - 4 1/4 in. (65 - 110 mm)

• Weight: 10 - 20 lbs. (4.5 - 9 kg)

• Physical Characteristics: Dorsal pelage is usually a mixture of grizzled gray, brown, and black, but may range from light gray to almost black. The underparts are dull grayish-brown tinged with white. A black facial mask extends across the eyes and down onto the cheeks. The tail is bushy with alternating dark and light bands, a characteristic which distinguishes the raccoon from all other park mammals.

left lateral view of skull and mandible	dorsal view of skull	ventral view of skull

Raccoons prefer moist, forested areas such as timbered swamps and the banks of streams, rivers, and lakes. They are sometimes found in barns and other buildings. Rabinowitz and Pelton (1986) located raccoons in 327 Cades Cove day-beds including 89 tree dens, 29 tree nests, 99 tree roosts, 24 rock dens, 66 ground dens, and 2 barn dens.

Index

Natural History

• Reproduction
  Breeding generally occurs in early spring with females producing a single annual litter of two to five young after a gestation period of 63 days. Parturition occurs in early June in Cades Cove with an average litter size of 2.8 young (Rabinowitz, 1981).

  Pregnant females locate a breeding den about a month after mating. These dens are usually in trees and have small, protected entrances. At birth, the young are approximately 4 inches long, weigh about 2 ounces, and are lightly furred, The blackish facial mask, made up of sparsely haired pigmented skin, is present at birth. Weaning occurs at 16 weeks. The young become completely independent at 4 to 6 months and may be sexually mature as early as one year.

• Longevity
  A study in Cades Cove recorded an average longevity of 2.5 years and a maximum longevity of approximately 7.2 years ( Rabinowitz, 1981).

• Terrestrial Ecology
  Raccoons are primarily nocturnal and are active all year. They spend most of their time on the ground but are excellent climbers. Several may hunt and den together. Raccoons are omnivorous and feed on wild fruits, berries, shellfish, crustaceans, fish, reptiles, birds, and small mammals. Food items from Great Smoky Mountains National Park include wild grapes, pokeberries, salamanders, wood frogs, and chickens (Komarek and Komarek, 1938; Linzey, 1995b).

  Home range size varies depending on sex, age, season, food availability, and population density. Keeler (1978a) recorded an average home range of 31.0 ha for five males and 11.3 ha for three females in Cades Cove during 1973-1974. Rabinowitz ( 1981) recorded an average home range of 7.5 km2 for six males and 3.0 km2 for females in Cades Cove during 1979-1980. Population density was approximately one raccoon per 17.5 ha in Cades Cove (Keeler, 1978a; Rabinowitz, 1981).

• Predators and Defense
  Major predators in the Cades Cove study were wild dogs ( Rabinowitz, 1981). Young raccoons may be preyed upon by bobcats, foxes, hawks, owls, and snakes.

• Parasites
  Komarek and Komarek (1938) recorded ticks ( Ixodes sp.) and fleas. Rabinowitz (1981) and Rabinowitz et al. (1983) recorded the ticks Dermacentor variabilis, Ixodes texanus, and Ixodes cookei from raccoons in Cades Cove. Rabinowitz et al. (1985) recorded microfilariae of Tetrapetonema llewellyni in the blood of 108 of 145 (75%) raccoons from Cades Cove. One raccoon also contained a microfilaria of Dipetalonema procyonis. A canine distemper epizootic reduced the Cades Cove raccoon population an average of 67.9% from March 1973 to March 1974 ( Keeler, 1978a). Blood serum samples from 117 Cades Cove raccoons were tested for antibodies to five viruses (Rabinowitz and Potgeiter, 1984). No antibodies to rabies virus, pseudorabies virus, or canine distemper virus were detected. Two raccoons had low levels of serum antibody to canine parvovirus, and three had low serum antibody levels to canine hepatitis virus.

• University of Michigan, Museum of Zoology
• eNature
• Raccoon Tracts

Index

Acknowledgements

• Text
  • Dr. Donald W. Linzey, Wytheville Community College - wclinzd@wcc.vccs.edu
  • Christy Brecht, Wytheville Community College - wcbrecc@wcc.vccs.edu

• Photographs
  • Roger Barbour

• Map development
  • Richard Schulz, Great Smoky Mountains National Park - richard_schulz@nps.gov

• Web page design & coding
  • Denise Lim, University of Georgia, Athens
  • John Pickering, University of Georgia, Athens

• Burt, W. H. and R. P. Grossenheider. 1976. A Field Guide to the Mammals. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.

• Keeler, W. E. 1978a. Some aspects of the natural history of the raccoon (Procyon lotor) in Cades Cove, The Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

• Keeler, W. E. 1978b. Some aspects of the natural history of the raccoon ( Procyon lotor) in Cades Cove, The Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency Technical Report No. 77-19 PCAN 0064/200.

• Komarek, E. V. and R. Komarek. 1938. Mammals of the Great Smoky Mountains. Bulletin of the Chicago Academy of Sciences 5 (6): 137 - 162.

• Linzey, D. W. 1995a. Mammals of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Blacksburg, Virginia: The McDonald & Woodward Publishing Company, Inc.

• Linzey, D. W. 1995b. Mammals of Great Smoky Mountains National Park-1995 Update. Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society 111(1):1-81.

• Lotze, J-H. and S. Anderson. 1979. Procyon lotor. Mammalian Species. No. 119: 1-8. American Society of Mammalogists.

• Rabinowitz, A. R. 1981. The ecology of the raccoon (Procyon lotor) in Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

• Rabinowitz, A. R., S. Patton, and V. Major. 1983. Ticks from raccoons of Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Journal of the Tennessee Academy of Science 63(3 and 4): 29-30.

• Rabinowitz, A. R., S. Patton, and V. Major. 1985. Microfilariae of Tetrapetalonema llewellyni in raccoons of Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee, USA. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 21 (4): 449-450.

• Rabinowitz, A. R. and M. R. Pelton. 1986. Day-bed use by raccoons. Journal of Mammalogy 67 (4): 766-769.

• Rabinowitz, A. R. and L. N. D. Potgieter. 1984. Serologic survey for selected viruses in a population of raccoons, Procyon lotor (L.), in the Great Smoky Mountains. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 20 (2): 146-148.

• Wilson, D. and S. Ruff (editors). 1999. The Smithsonian Book of North American Mammals. Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.