Seasonal Weight Changes in 



Raccoons (Carnivora: Procyonidae) 



of North Carolina 



Samuel I. Zeveloff 1 and Phillip D. Doerr 



Department of Zoology, 



North Carolina State University, 



Box 7617, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695-7617 



ABSTRACT. — Raccoons, Procyon lotor L., were studied in North 

 Carolina to determine if seasonal changes in body weight occur in this 

 species in a mid-latitude region. The sample consisted of live-trapped 

 animals and intact carcasses from a fur buyer. Juvenile male body 

 weights increased from the end of July to mid-December 1975. Body 

 weights of juvenile males and females tended to decline between mid- 

 December 1975 and February 1976. During the midwinter of both 

 1975 and 1976, adult male and female body weights decreased; the 

 decline was less extreme and occurred about two weeks later than 

 declines reported for the northcentral United States. This pattern of 

 weight loss at higher latitudes may reflect the greater energetic cost of 

 raccoon winter foraging at northern locations. Such sites experience 

 lower temperatures than more southerly sites, and their ground vegeta- 

 tion is less accessible because of deeper snows. 



INTRODUCTION 



Systematic seasonal changes in body weight occur in a variety of 

 nonhibernating mammals (for examples see Keller and Krebs 1970; 

 Markham and Whicker 1973; Iverson and Turner 1974; Mautz 1978). 

 This is not surprising since food quality and/ or quantity normally vary 

 within a year. Except for those of Iverson and Turner (1974) and Mautz 

 (1978), most reports of such seasonal weight changes are presented 

 without ecological explanations, or as events associated with population 

 cycles (e.g., Keller and Krebs 1970). In this study we examined raccoons, 

 Procyon lotor L., in North Carolina to determine whether such changes 

 occur in this species in a mid-latitude region. Seasonal body weight 

 changes have been documented in raccoons from the northern (Stuewer 

 1943a; Mech et al. 1968) and southern (Johnson 1970) United States. 

 Thus, we could also evaluate geographic variation in this phenomenon. 



METHODS 

 This study was conducted in the North Carolina piedmont from 

 January 1975 through February 1976. Study areas included the Ecologi- 



1 Present address: Department of Zoology, Weber State College, Ogden, Utah 84408. 



Brimleyana No. 1 1:63-67, October 1985 63 



