Raccoon

Description

Its body length is between 41 and 71 cm, not including the bushy tail, which is between 19.2 and 40.5 cm long, but usually not much longer than 25 cm. The characteristic facial markings of the raccoon with the black coloured face mask around the eyes, which contrasts sharply with the surrounding white fur, are similar to those of the raccoon dog. The slightly rounded ears are also framed by white fur. On the rest of the body, the long and water-repellent outer fur is coloured in various shades of grey and, to a lesser extent, brown. Raccoons with very dark coloured fur are mainly found in the German population, as there were individual animals with such fur markings in the founder population.

Unusual for a predator are also the five free-standing fingers, although the mobility of the front paws is not comparable to that of primate hands due to the non-opposable thumb. 

Apart from urbanised animals, water-rich mixed and deciduous forests with a high proportion of oak trees are the preferred habitat of raccoons. Here they find enough food and shelter. In case of danger, they take refuge in a tree; they therefore avoid open areas. Raccoons are good swimmers and prefer to live near rivers or other bodies of water, where they find most of their animal food.

The text is a translation of an excerpt from Wikipediaa (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waschbär). On wikipedia the text is available under a „Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike“ licence. Status: 13 September 2021