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April 26, 2023  |  By Ben Ivers

Raccoon

Raccoon Live

Raccoon - IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

To our great luck, the raccoons had gone the same direction, and I was able to take this photo.

This photo of a raccoon was taken with a Tamron 150-600mm lens while hiking in Eagle Creek Park in Indianapolis. My brother and I were out taking photos with a Tamron 150-600mm lens. He was photographing some pileated woodpeckers, when suddenly I saw a group of baby raccoons and their mother not more than 15 feet away from us. Now I’m not typically the type of person to tell someone what to photograph, but this was a scenario that I had to interrupt his bird photography to have him take some shots of the raccoons. After he had taken a few (including a great one of the mom acting as look out for the babies), we continued down a side trail. To our great luck, the raccoons had gone the same direction, and I was able to take this photo.

Mallards

The two raccoons in this photo are a few months old. The mother had gone through a 65-day gestation period, and she will look after the young for the next four to five months until the late fall. There are 13 unique vocal calls that have been identified for raccoons. Seven of those are used for communication between the mother and her kits. When they are newborns, the sound is similar to twittering birds. It is not surprising that this mother was no longer with her previous social group of related females. They tend to isolate themselves after the kits are born because some males show aggressive behavior towards unrelated kits.

Raccoon Mother

Photo by Nick Ivers

Raccoons are easily identified by their physical appearance. They have grey fur with a grey and black ringed tail. Their faces are covered with a “mask” made up of black and white coloration. They grow to be about two feet long and will weigh anywhere from 11 to 57 pounds. They can be found throughout North America from Canada to Panama.

Garter Snake

The diet of raccoons is definitively omnivorous. They eat 40% invertebrates, 33% plant material, and 27% vertebrates. Their diet consists of: insects, worms, fruits, nuts, crayfish, insects, fish, amphibians, bird eggs, small mammals, and birds. They are prolific predators of nests of reptiles and birds. This can be particularly bad for species of endangered turtles.

Raccoons are prolific predators of nests of reptiles and birds.

Raccoon Kit

Did you know?

  • Baby raccoons are usually called kits, but can also be referred to as cubs.
  • Baby raccoons are blind and deaf at birth. They only weigh about 2.5 ounces and are about 4 inches long. They wait until they weight about two pounds to begin exploring the world outside their den.
  • The life expectancy of a raccoon is 20 year in captivity, but only around 3 years in the wild.
  • Distemper is known to spread in raccoon populations and can wipe out the entirety of a local population.
  • Adult males are known to roam up to 12,000 acres.
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forest hiking indiana predator raccoon

Article by Ben Ivers

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Matt Hamas and Ben Ivers here. We are focused on fostering a greater understanding and appreciation of the environment. We endeavor to bring you a unique perspective of the wild. Our photos are being placed here for you to enjoy. Please feel free to download any of the photos for your personal use. We are currently seeking partners for printing and developing photos.

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