64 Samuel I. Zeveloff and Phillip D. Doerr 



cal Research Area of North Carolina State University (NCSU), 3.2 km 

 southwest of Raleigh, and woods in two nearby locations: Schenck 

 Forest and the Faculty Club, both of NCSU. 



Live traps baited with sardines and corn were placed along stream 

 bottomlands and checked daily. Twenty-two captured raccoons were re- 

 strained in a wire cone (Stuewer 1943b), weighed (±1.0 g), measured 

 (±0.5 mm), sexed (Stuewer 1943b), ear tagged, and released. Additional 

 data were obtained from 123 intact carcasses from a fur buyer in Smith- 

 field, 48.3 km south of Raleigh. All of these raccoons were trapped 

 within a 150 km radius of Smithfield less than two weeks prior to exam- 

 ination (L. Barbour, pers. comm.). Exact capture dates were not known 

 for about 75% of the specimens. As approximations used to compute 

 regressions of body weight over time, dates for these animals were esti- 

 mated to be seven days prior to the date of necropsy. 



The dead raccoons were aged by degree of epiphyseal closure seen 

 in X-rayed radii and ulnae (Sanderson 1961). We analyzed the data 

 from the noncastrated raccoons in Sanderson's (1961:9) Illinois sample 

 and found that the mean ages of females with broad, thin, and closed 

 epiphyses were all significantly different (P<0.01) with little overlap 

 between the means' 95% confidence limits. Since these means corre- 

 sponded nicely with year classes, we categorized our females with broad 

 epiphyses as juveniles (— zero-one yr), with thin epiphyses as subadults 

 (^ one-two yr), and with closed epiphyses as adults (^ two yr). In 

 Sanderson's study, the only significant difference (P<0.01) was between 

 the mean ages of males with broad and thin epiphyses. Again, matching 

 epiphyseal closure with mean age, our males were classified as juveniles 

 (=* zero-one yr) or adults (^ one yr). Fifty raccoons, including those 

 live-trapped, were not X-rayed. Instead, they were assigned to age 

 classes by comparing their total lengths and body weights with the 

 means and 95% confidence intervals of these variables displayed by the 

 animals we did X-ray. 



Weights of males and females were plotted separately against dates 

 by age. We noted that weight typically increases during the fall or early 

 winter through December, and is followed by a midwinter decrease. 

 Weights of juvenile males increased by midsummer. Stepwise regression 

 analyses were used to determine if these visually observed changes were 

 statistically significant. 



RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 



Although adult weights decreased during January and February of 

 1975 and 1976, the only statistically significant change was for males in 

 1975 (r = -0.45; P<0.05; N = 20). However, since the pattern was con- 

 sistent in both sexes each year, it appeared real and justified data pool- 



