Raccoons are medium-sized mammals that learned to live close to humans. The dense under-fur accounts for almost 90% of the raccoon's grayish coat.

Raccoons are medium-sized mammals that learned to live close to humans. The dense under-fur accounts for almost 90% of the raccoon's grayish coat.

Two of its most distinctive features are its black paws and its facial mask. Raccoons are also noted for their intelligence. Studies have shown that they are able to remember the solution to tasks up to three years later. Raccoon's diet consists of about 40% invertebrates, 33% plant foods and 27% vertebrates. In other words they are omnivorous.

Raccoons are omnivorous and usually nocturnal. Related females often share a common area, while unrelated males live together in groups of up to four animals to maintain their positions against foreign males during the mating season and other potential invaders. Raccoons usually mate in a period between late January and mid-March.

These encounters will often occur at central meeting places. Copulation, including foreplay, can last over an hour and is repeated over several nights. After a gestation period of about 65 days, two to five young are born in spring. The kits are subsequently raised by their mother until dispersion in late fall.

They are not endangered. Raccoons are common throughout North America from Canada to Panama. Tree hollows in old oaks or other trees and big rocks are preferred by raccoons. If they are unavailable or accessing them is inconvenient, raccoons utilize burrows dug by other mammals.