RACCOONS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA H 



forest it may be used as a call to others. A very young raccoon, making this cry 

 from loneliness or in search of its mother, will cease to make it if gently stroked or 

 scratched. 



Of the climbing habit Cole says: 



This instinct involves the sense of support, which is present before the raccoon 

 possesses either the strength or 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 . . . 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. Apparently 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. . . . 



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. ... As soon as the 

 young raccoon can walk well any bush or tree arouses his impulse to climb. At 

 first there is some awkwardness 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. ... As Brehm states, the raccoon often climbs along a branch 

 with his back down "like a sloth or an ape". . . . 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 than on their agility. 



Cole agrees with other observers in the conchision that raccoons are 

 very playful: 



One would sit for a long time and play with his hind feet or the tip of his tail. 

 Three were observed to play in this fashion for one and a quarter hours, with 

 almost no pause. While my animals had to work twice a day for their food I 

 observed only momentary play, or perhaps curiosity, as the tendency to pick up a 

 straw or bit of cornhusk and roll it for a moment between their forepaws. In 

 some degree, therefore, their play seems to depend on the possession of surplus 

 energy. When well rested they played roughly with each other in mock fights, 

 running and seizing each other gently with the teeth, rolling over and over in their 

 tussles. In this play they would often climb to the shoulder of the observer, 

 whereby he may learn both the strength of their grip and the sharpness of their 

 claws. They also make a pretense of biting your hand in play, a characteristic 

 reaction of the pet raccoon. 



In this connection Cole quotes Beckmann, as follows: 



"In the numberless leisure hours which every captive raccoon has he does 

 thousands of things in order to dispel the tedium. Now, he sits upright in a 

 secluded corner, and with a most earnest expression he is busied in trying to tie 

 a straw around his nose. Now, he plays thoughtfully with the toes of his hind 

 foot, or snatches after the wagging end of his long tail. At another time he lies 

 on his back and has a whole heap of hay or dry leaves hugged against his belly and 

 he tries to tie down this loose mass by drawing his tail tightly over it with his 

 forepaws." 



