''Procyon'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...

mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

s comprising three species commonly known as raccoons in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Procyonidae. The most familiar species, the

common raccoon The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the North American, northern or common raccoon (also spelled racoon) to distinguish it from Procyonina, other species of raccoon, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest ...

(''P. lotor''), is often known simply as "the" raccoon, as the two other raccoon species in the genus are native only to the

tropics The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

and are less well known. Genetic studies have shown that the closest relatives of raccoons are the ring-tailed cats and cacomistles of genus '' Bassariscus'', from which they diverged about 10 million years ago.

General attributes

Raccoons are unusual, for their

thumb The thumb is the first digit of the hand, next to the index finger. When a person is standing in the medical anatomical position (where the palm is facing to the front), the thumb is the outermost digit. The Medical Latin English noun for thumb ...

s (though not

opposable The thumb is the first digit of the hand, next to the index finger. When a person is standing in the medical anatomical position (where the palm is facing to the front), the thumb is the outermost digit. The Medical Latin English noun for thumb ...

) enable them to open many closed containers (such as garbage cans and

door A door is a hinged or otherwise movable barrier that allows ingress (entry) into and egress (exit) from an enclosure. The created opening in the wall is a ''doorway'' or ''portal''. A door's essential and primary purpose is to provide securit ...

s). They are

omnivore An omnivore () is an animal that regularly consumes significant quantities of both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize t ...

s with a reputation for being clever and mischievous; their intelligence and dexterity equip them to survive in a wide range of environments and are one of the few medium-to-large-sized animals that have enlarged their range since human encroachment began (another is the

coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans''), also known as the American jackal, prairie wolf, or brush wolf, is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the Wolf, gray wolf, and slightly smaller than the c ...

). Raccoon hindfeet are

plantigrade 151px, Portion of a human skeleton, showing plantigrade habit In terrestrial animals, plantigrade locomotion means walking with the toes and metatarsals flat on the ground. It is one of three forms of locomotion adopted by terrestrial mammals. ...

similar to those of

human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are Hominidae, great apes characterized by their Prehistory of nakedness and clothing ...

s and

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family (biology), family Ursidae (). They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats ...

s. Raccoons are sometimes considered

vermin Vermin (colloquially varmint(s) or varmit(s)) are pests or nuisance animals that spread diseases and destroy crops, livestock, and property. Since the term is defined in relation to human activities, which species are included vary by regi ...

or a nuisance. They have readily adapted to urban environments (compare urban opossums,

skunk Skunks are mammals in the family Mephitidae. They are known for their ability to spray a liquid with a strong, unpleasant scent from their anal glands. Different species of skunk vary in appearance from black-and-white to brown, cream or gi ...

s and foxes), scavenging garbage bins and other food sources. Although there is some variation depending on species, raccoons range from in length (including the tail) and weigh between . The raccoon's

tail The tail is the elongated section at the rear end of a bilaterian animal's body; in general, the term refers to a distinct, flexible appendage extending backwards from the midline of the torso. In vertebrate animals that evolution, evolved to los ...

ranges from in length. Male raccoons are generally larger than females. A baby raccoon is called a kit. Raccoons can live up to 16 years in the wild, though most do not make it through their second year. A raccoon that survives past its youth will live an average of five years. Primary causes of mortality include humans (hunting, trapping, cars) and malnutrition.ADW: Procyon lotor: Information
/ref>

Species

There are three extant species of raccoon: Some raccoons once considered as separate species are now thought to be the same as or

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

of the common raccoon, including the Barbados raccoon (''P. gloveralleni''), Nassau raccoon (''P. maynardi''), Guadeloupe raccoon (''P. minor''), and Tres Marias raccoon (''P. insularis'') (Helgen and Wilson 2005). ''Procyon brachyurus'' was described from captive specimens; its identity is undeterminable as the remains of the two animals assigned to this

taxon In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

cannot be located and may have been lost.

Nomenclature

The word "raccoon" is derived from the Algonquian word , "he who scratches with his hands". Spanish-speaking colonists similarly adopted their term, , from the

Nahuatl Nahuatl ( ; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahuas, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller popul ...

word for the animal, meaning roughly "that which has hands". The genus name, ''Procyon'', comes from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

for "before the dog"; this term is also used for the star

Procyon Procyon () is the brightest star in the constellation of Canis Minor and usually the list of brightest stars, eighth-brightest star in the night sky, with an apparent visual magnitude of 0.34. It has the Bayer designation α Canis Min ...

of the constellation

Canis Minor Canis Minor is a small constellation in the Celestial sphere, northern celestial hemisphere. In the second century, it was included as an Asterism (astronomy), asterism, or pattern, of two stars in Ptolemy's 48 constellations, and it is counte ...

. Raccoons are today understood to have a relatively loose evolutionary relationship with

s, which was nonetheless seen as significant by the early

taxonomist In biology, taxonomy () is the science, scientific study of naming, defining (Circumscription (taxonomy), circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxon, taxa (si ...

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

initially placed the raccoon in the genus '' Ursus''. In many languages, the raccoon is named for its characteristic dousing behavior in conjunction with that language's term for "bear": in German, in Hungarian, in Danish and Norwegian, in Swedish, in Dutch, in

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

...

and in Finnish, () in Japanese, in

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

, () in Chinese and () in Bulgarian all mean "washing bear". One exception is Russian, where raccoon is named () due to similarity between raccoon and genet furs. However, the full name of the common raccoon in Russian is also water-related: it is called (), which means "rinsing raccoon". In some cases, the "washing" descriptor is applied only to the common raccoon species: for example, in French the common raccoon is called or "washing rat", while its Linnaean

binomial Binomial may refer to: In mathematics *Binomial (polynomial), a polynomial with two terms *Binomial coefficient, numbers appearing in the expansions of powers of binomials *Binomial QMF, a perfect-reconstruction orthogonal wavelet decomposition * ...

is ''Procyon lotor'' or, roughly, "washing pre-dog". In contrast, the crab-eating raccoon is "little crab-catching rat" () and "crab-eating pre-dog" (''Procyon cancrivorus'') in French and Latin, respectively.

Literature

* *Helgen, K.M. & Wilson, D.E. 2005. A systematic and zoogeographic overview of the raccoons of Mexico and Central America. Pp. 219–234 in Sanchez-Cordero, V. & Medellin, R.A. (eds.). Contribuciones Mastozoologicas: en Homenaje a Bernardo Villa. Mexico City: Instituto de Biologia e Instituto de Ecologia, UNAM.

References

External links

Raccoons on Bear Tracker
{{DEFAULTSORT:Procyon (genus) Procyonidae Carnivoran genera Extant Pliocene first appearances Taxa named by Gottlieb Conrad Christian Storr Fur trade