Facts about raccoons

Raccoons are funny and cute animals. The color of his muzzle is like a bandit mask. This mask in full characterizes his nature, he is a petty hooligan and a thief. Often, where raccoons live next to a person, they swarm in trash and rarely climb into the house to find something edible. Therefore, they are considered small gangsters. But apart from the clever ability to steal something, raccoons have many abilities and skills that help them survive in the wild and in the jungle.

To learn about these abilities and skills, we picked up 15 interesting facts about raccoons.

  • Raccoons are distant relatives of bears.
  • She feeds her offspring 24 times a day.
  • Sight and hearing in babies appears only in the third week of life.
  • On the paws of the raccoon there are thousands of tactile receptors, with their help the animal is able to determine the object, even without looking at it. In the water, the action of the receptors only increases, so the raccoons have such a love for rinsing.
  • The joints of the hind legs of the raccoons bend at 180 degrees.
  • Raccoons are one of the few mammals that can descend from a height upside down.
  • In case of danger, the raccoon mother has about 12 burrows for emergency relocation of her young.
  • In winter raccoons fall into a hibernation, their sleep is not deep, they often wake up. Although in southern regions, beasts do not sleep in winter.
  • To survive the winter, the raccoon needs to gain 30% of its normal weight.
  • Sometimes in a large hollow or nest, up to 10 raccoons winter.
  • Raccoons never dig their holes, they prefer to take strangers. But more preferable for them dwelling are tree hollows.
  • Perfect night vision and vibris on the abdomen and near the claws allow the raccoon to move at a gallop in complete darkness.
  • When a raccoon is in danger, from which it can not fight back, escape or hide, it pretends to be dead.
  • Raccoons can jump from a height of 8-12 meters, while not wreaking havoc.
  • In captivity, raccoons live more than 20 years.