THE SENSES AND INSTINCTS OF THE RACCOON 305 



the muscular co-ordination necessary for climbing, and the 

 impulse to cling to any support. The sense of support is best 

 described by an example. When raccoon No. 5 was probably 

 not more than two weeks old I placed him one day upon the 

 top of a small closed box six inches high. He groped over the 

 top of this box in the manner which I have described as creep- 

 ing, with his forepaws extended, feeling the way. But the 

 moment his paws felt the edge of the box the animal shrank 

 back and began to grope in another direction. Again he would 

 find the edge and again shrink back and start anew. Appar- 

 ently at this age vision did not serve to show him that he might 

 safely drop to the floor. It seems likely that this impulse enables 

 the young raccoon to remain safely in a high nest, even though 

 it were not enclosed. At any rate its advantage to a tree in- 

 habiting animal is obvious. 



When the raccoon is a month old it is able to sustain its 

 weight by clinging to a support by any one of its paws and 

 this it does instinctively. It will hang thus from a rod or the 

 experimenter's finger, unless it can feel a support beneath it. 

 In the latter case it instantly releases its grasp and drops to 

 the secure footing. One of the chief difficulties in handling 

 raccoons is this instinctive tendency to cling to all nearby ob- 

 jects. In being put into a cage through the door the animal 

 will lay hold of the sides with his paws and the difficulty en- 

 countered in disengaging him shows his remarkable strength. 



As soon as the young raccoon can walk well any bush or tree 

 arouses his impulse to climb. At first there is some awkward- 

 ness and two of our animals were seen to fall from a small tree, 

 when about eight weeks old. A little later they could hardly 

 be dislodged at all. After the animals ceased to follow the 

 experimenter when set free they always ran to climb the nearest 

 tree. As Brehm states, the raccoon often climbs along a branch 

 with his back down "like a sloth or an ape." When the same 

 writer says that the raccoon makes "leaps from one bough to 

 another with unfailing certainty," his observations differ from 

 mine. Instead of this my raccoons always laid hold of one 

 bough before releasing the other. They go from one bough 

 to another very quickly yet they rely much more on their strength 

 in clinging than on their agility. In fact I tried to get the ani- 

 mals to leap from one box to another for food but they usually 



