Raccoon FACTS

The raccoon (Procyon lotor) is a native mammal, measuring about 3 feet long, including its 12-inch, bushy, ringed tail. Because their hind legs are longer than the front legs, raccoons have a hunched appearance when they walk or run. Each of their front feet has five dexterous toes, allowing raccoons to grasp and manipulate food and other items.

Raccoons prefer forest areas near a stream or water source, but have adapted to various environments throughout urban areas. Raccoon populations can get quite large in urban areas, owing to hunting and trapping restrictions, few predators, and human-supplied food.

Adult raccoons weigh 15 to 40 pounds, their weight being a result of genetics, age, available food, and habitat location. Males have weighed in at over 60 pounds. A raccoon in the wild will probably weigh less than the urbanized raccoon that has learned to live on handouts, pet food, and garbage-can leftovers.

As long as raccoons are kept out of human homes, not cornered, and not treated as pets, they are not dangerous.

Food and Feeding Habitats

• Raccoons will eat almost anything, but are particularly fond of creatures found in water—clams, crayfish, frogs, fish, and snails.
• Raccoons also eat insects, slugs, dead animals, birds and bird eggs, as well as fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. Around humans, raccoons often eat garbage and pet food.
• Although not great hunters, raccoons can catch young gophers, squirrels, mice, and rats.
• Except during the breeding season and for females with young, raccoons are solitary. Individuals will eat together if a large amount of food is available in an area.

Den Sites and Resting Sites

• Dens are used for shelter and raising young. They include abandoned burrows dug by other mammals, areas in or under large rock piles and brush piles, hollow logs, and holes in trees.
• Den sites also include wood duck nest-boxes, attics, crawl spaces, chimneys, and abandoned vehicles.
• In urban areas, raccoons normally use den sites as daytime rest sites. In wooded areas, they often rest in trees.
  
  
   

Reproduction and Home Range

• Raccoons pair up only during the breeding season, and mating occurs as early as January to as late as June. The peak mating period is March to April.
• After a 65-day gestation period, two to three kits are born.
• The kits remain in the den until they are about seven weeks old, at which time they can walk, run, climb, and begin to occupy alternate dens.
• At eight to ten weeks of age, the young regularly accompany their mother outside the den and forage for them selves. By 12 weeks, the kits roam on their own for several nights before returning to their mother.
• The kits remain with their mother in her home range through winter, and in early spring seek out their own territories.
• The size of a raccoon’s home range as well as its nightly hunting area varies greatly depending on the habitat and food supply. Home range diameters of 1 mile are known to occur in urban areas.

Mortality and Longevity

• Raccoons die from encounters with vehicles, hunters, and trappers, and from disease, starvation, and predation.
• Young raccoons are the main victims of starvation, since they have very little fat reserves to draw from during food shortages in late winter and early spring.
• Raccoon predators include cougars, bobcats, coyotes, and domestic dogs. Large owls and eagles will prey on young raccoons.
• The average life span of a raccoon in the wild is 2 to 3 years; captive raccoons have lived 13.

 

 

Squirrel FACTS

Squirrel's belong to the order "Rodentia", with 1650 species, it is the largest group of living mammals.  It also comprises forty percent of all present day mammal species.

There are over 365 species of squirrels in seven families. They include the tree squirrel, ground squirrel, and flying squirrel. Plus many squirrel-like mammals such as the gopher, ground hog and prairie dog.

Squirrels are the most active in late winter,  when the mating season begins.   The males will chase a females, as well as, chase off other suitors. This ritual of chasing, occurs through the trees at top speed.  While they perform some of the most breathtaking acrobatics imaginable.

The period of gestation varies from 33 days in the smaller species of pine squirrels, up to 60 days for the larger species such as the common gray and fox squirrels.

Squirrels are usually born in the early spring. The average litter consists of four. This varies with climate and location.  A second litter can occur in mid summer,  if there is an adequate food supply.

A female squirrel will choose the strongest male during mating season, but is unlikely to breed with that male again.

A baby squirrel weighs approximately one ounce at birth,  and is about one inch long. They do not have hair or teeth, and are virtually blind for the first six to eight weeks.

Gray squirrels come in many colors.  Shades of gray are the most common followed by shades of brown. There are also pure white and pure black squirrels,  but both are variations of the gray squirrel.


In the summer squirrels are most active two to three hours after sunrise, then they'll rest in the afternoon. Resuming activity again two hours before sunset. The squirrel will retire to its nest well before dark,  and will rarely leave the nest in the dark.   In the winter, the squirrel will complete its activities between dawn and mid- day, and will remain in or around the nest until the next day.

During winter storms, or severe cold, the squirrel may not leave the nest for days.   But,  the tree squirrel does not hibernate!

An adult squirrel normally lives alone. But will, in severe cold, share its nest with other squirrels to conserve body heat. Once the temperature rises, the guests will be on their way.

Squirrels eyes are located high, and on each side of their head.  This allows them a wide field of vision, without turning their head.

The gray squirrels diet consists of nuts, seeds and fruit. It will eat bird eggs, bugs, and even an animal carcass if there is no other food source available.

Squirrels chew on tree branches to sharpen and clean their teeth. That's why you may see many small branches on the ground around large trees. They will also chew on power lines for the same reason, this has caused many major power outages throughout the country.

A squirrel's brain is about the size of a walnut.

The average adult squirrel needs to eat about a pound of food a week to maintain an active life.

Squirrels communicate through a series of chirps. The frequency,  and the duration of the notes communicate everything from laughter to alarm. Their frequency range is normally between .01 KHz. and 10 KHz. (kilohertz). These sounds when used in conjunction with tail gestures, form the basis for squirrel  communication.

If a squirrel has taken up residence in your attic or crawl space, the only practical way to remove them is by trapping.

A squirrel will break the shell of a nut with its teeth, then clean the nut by licking it or rubbing on its face before it is buried. This action applies a scent to the nut which helps the squirrel find it later, even under a foot of snow.

The sweat glands of a tree squirrel are located on their feet, between the foot pads and on their paws between the toes. When hot or excited a squirrel will leave wet tracks on a dry surface. This scent is also used to mark the trees in their territory.

If a squirrels nest becomes infested with fleas or other parasites, it will move to, or build a new nest. This is why there may be more nests then squirrels in a given area.

The gray squirrel has been known to build a nest in many unusual places, in an attic or a crawl space seems to be the most common. Squirrels have also built nests in automobiles, chimney's, barbecue grills and under porches.

When a squirrel senses danger, its first instinct is to stand motionless. If on the ground it will race to the closest tree, or other climbable object to escape. If it is in a tree, it will circle the trunk with its body pressed tightly to the bark.

The squirrel's erratic path while crossing a street is an attempt to confuse the oncoming vehicle... thereby causing it to change direction. This is obliviously the squirrels biggest, and often last mistake.

The male tree squirrel takes twice as long, as the female, to groom itself. They are the cleanest animal in the rodent family.

A squirrels teeth grow continuously. Their incisor's will grow six inches per year, but stay short due to the constant wear they receive.

The most common type of squirrel bite is a result of feeding a squirrel by hand. Never hold the food between your fingers, chances are very good you will be bitten. A squirrel's eyes are always looking for predators and they rarely focus on what they are eating.
 

 

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