In the northern areas, the raccoon can live the whole winter on stored fat, but in more southerly regions, where the food is still plentiful, like nuts and grains, it continues to procure food all year round. Raccoon poloskun is the only member of the family of raccoons, which falls asleep for 4 months or more with the onset of winter.
Sometimes, in large hollows, up to 10 individuals gather for wintering.
Nevertheless, the dream of a raccoon can not be called hibernation, because it is shallow and may be interrupted depending on the weather. They do not have such physiological changes as a decrease in body temperature, a reduction in the rate of respiration and heart rate, there is no insensitivity to pain, which characterizes the true winter hibernation.
Sometimes raccoons wake up, and if the weather is relatively warm – you can wander for an hour or two at your lair. But in cold frosty and snowy weather the raccoon does not leave holes, as much as possible saving its fat reserves.
Raccoon – a very viable beast. He is immune to many infectious and invasive diseases. Despite the fact that he has a lot of enemies in the wild – coyotes, wolves, red lynxes, alligators, owls and snakes – raccoons here also show the wonders of courage and survival thanks to their ingenuity, cunning, insolence and, I’m not afraid of this word – charm.
