RACCOONS AND RELATIVES: Procyonidae

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Procyonids (members of the Procyonidae family) range in size from the ringtail, at 2 pounds (1 kilogram), to the northern raccoon, at 35 pounds (16 kilograms). Most have a rounded head. The erect ears may be rounded or pointed. The snout may be short or long. Except for kinkajous, procyonids have long tails with alternating dark and light rings. In the kinkajou, the ringless tail is prehensile, able to grab on to tree branches. Fur coloration ranges from pale yellowish gray (ringtail) to reddish brown (red panda) to grayish black (white-nosed coati [kuh-WAH-tee]). Most have facial markings. Each paw has five toes with short, recurved claws, or claws that curve back. Procyonids are generally plantigrade, walking on the heels and soles of their feet instead of on their toes.

GEOGRAPHIC RANGE

Except for red pandas, procyonids are found throughout Central America (including Costa Rica and Panama), South America (including Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela), the United States, Canada, Mexico, Germany, and Russia. Red pandas live in Asia, including China, India, Nepal, and Tibet.

HABITAT

Some procyonids prefer forested areas close to streams and rivers where they can fish for food. Many inhabit a mixed coniferous-deciduous forest, with rich vegetation and canopies (uppermost forest layers made up of the spreading branches of trees) that provide sleeping and resting sites. Some have established residence in farmlands, cities, and suburban areas.

DIET

Procyonids are omnivorous, consuming both meat and plant food. However, ringtails prefer animal matter (rodents, insects, and birds), while red pandas eat mainly bamboo leaves. Fruits are the favorite food of kinkajous and olingos.

BEHAVIOR AND REPRODUCTION

Procyonids are adept climbers and usually live in trees. Of all the species, the kinkajou rarely leaves the forest canopy. Groups of kinkajous usually feed together in fruit trees. Some species are solitary, while others live in pairs or in family groups. They are nocturnal (active at night), except for the coatis, which are diurnal (active during the day). Some communicate through vocalizations, including chirps, screams, hisses, and barks. Only the red panda is territorial, claiming an area of land for its own and defending it against intruders.

Most procyonids do not mate for life. Breeding occurs commonly in the spring. In warmer climates, breeding may occur throughout the year. Females give birth to one to seven cubs and raise the cubs by themselves.

PROCYONIDS AND PEOPLE

Procyonids are hunted for their meat and fur. Raccoons and coatis are considered pests for attacking chickens and damaging crops. The northern raccoon is a carrier of rabies, an often deadly disease affecting the central nervous system and transmitted through the raccoon's saliva.

DO RACCOONS WASH THEIR FOOD BEFORE EATING IT?

The northern raccoon's species name lotor comes from the Latin meaning "washer." This relates to captive raccoons' tendency to dunk their food in water. Some scientists believe that captive raccoons are trying to duplicate their behavior in the wild, where they search for and grasp food underwater using their sensitive forepaws. In captivity, when raccoons dip their food in water, they give the impression of washing the food before eating it.

CONSERVATION STATUS

The IUCN lists the red panda as Endangered, facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild, due to habitat loss and fragmentation (division of a habitat into small areas, resulting in insufficient food sources and home range) as a result of forest clearing. They are hunted by humans for their fur and preyed on by domestic dogs. Seven other procyonid species are considered Endangered as well.

NORTHERN RACCOON (Procyon lotor): SPECIES ACCOUNTS

Physical characteristics: The northern raccoon wears a black "bandit" face mask, has a large rounded head, rounded ears, and a pointed snout. The tan underfur topped with gray to black guard hairs gives it a grizzled appearance. The bushy tail has alternating black and white rings. Five long front toes work like human fingers for catching food and putting it into the mouth. The sensitive skin on the toes helps raccoons distinguish the texture of their food. In the suburbs and cities, raccoons use these toes to pry open trash containers. Raccoons are plantigrade, walking on the soles and heels of their feet. Body length is 18 to 25 inches (50 to 65 centimeters), and the tail measures another 8 to 12 inches (20 to 30 centimeters). They weigh 10 to 35 pounds (4 to 16 kilograms).

Geographic range: Northern raccoons are found in the United States, Mexico, Canada, Panama, the Netherlands, Russia, and Germany.

Habitat: Raccoons prefer forested areas, especially those near streams and rivers where they can forage for food. Forests provide nuts, berries, and tree hollows for dens. Highly adaptable, raccoons are equally at home in farmlands, cities, and the suburbs, inhabiting barns and attics.

Diet: Northern raccoons are opportunistic feeders, eating any food that is available. They enjoy fruits, berries, cereal grains, nuts, fish, crayfish, frogs, insects, and bird eggs. They dine on corn in rural areas and have adapted to eating garbage in suburban and urban areas.

Behavior and reproduction: Northern raccoons are solitary, except when mating, raising young, or gathering at human environments, such as garbage pits. They are nocturnal, sometimes spending the day resting on branches high up in trees. Expert climbers, they can descend a tree headfirst. They are also good swimmers. Although they typically walk leisurely, they can run as fast as 15 miles per hour (24 kilometers per hour).

Raccoons mate in late winter, with males having several partners. In the spring, the female gives birth to a litter of one to seven cubs in a tree hollow or abandoned animal burrow (a hole or a tunnel). The mother sometimes carries a newborn by the nape of the neck, the way cats do with kittens. The male does not participate in parenting. In cold climates, raccoons sleep in their dens for days or even months, living off fat reserves from summer and autumn feedings. However, they do not truly hibernate, getting up during warm spells.

Northern raccoons and people: Raccoons are hunted for their meat. Their fur is made into caps and coats. They are considered pests for raiding cornfields, chicken coops, and garbage bins. They carry the rabies virus, which can be passed on to humans through bites.

Conservation status: The northern raccoon is not a threatened species. ∎

RED PANDA (Ailurus fulgens): SPECIES ACCOUNTS

Physical characteristics: The red panda has a body length of 20 to 24 inches (50 to 60 centimeters) and a tail length of 12 to 20 inches (30 to 50 centimeters). Its light weight of 6.5 to 11 pounds (3 to 5 kilograms) allows for climbing higher, thinner tree branches, with the long, bushy tail helping keep its balance. The tail has alternating reddish brown and tan rings. Reddish brown waterproof guard hairs protect a dense woolly underfur. Brownish black fur covers the back of the ears, belly, throat, and legs. Large pointed ears fringed with white sit atop a round head. White fur covers the cheeks and the areas over the small eyes and around the black nose. Large reddish brown tear marks run from the eyes to the corners of the mouth.

Each front paw has an extended wrist bone, used for grasping bamboo, its main food. Powerful jaw muscles and broad teeth are adapted for chewing the tough bamboo. Although flat-footed, the panda is considered semiplantigrade because the heels of its back feet do not touch the ground. Thick white fur keeps the soles warm in cold weather. The sharp claws can be pulled back like a cat's to keep from getting dull when walking on hard surfaces.

Geographic range: The red panda occurs in Assam, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim, and Tibet.

Diet: The red panda is a folivore, eating almost exclusively the leaves of bamboo. On rare occasions, it eats fruits, berries, acorns, other grasses, as well as bamboo rats, insects, young birds, and bird eggs. It spends up to thirteen hours consuming 2 to 3 pounds (1 to 1.4 kilograms) of leaves. The panda has a carnivore's digestive system that is not adapted for processing plant fiber. Since it gets very little nutrients from the small amount of digested food, it has to eat plenty of leaves.

Behavior and reproduction: Red pandas sleep and rest in tree branches. They are active at night, daybreak, and dusk, mostly foraging for bamboo. Although loners, they communicate through vocalizations and body language. They scent mark territorial boundaries with anal secretions, urine, and feces. Sweat glands between the paw pads secrete fluid that helps pandas find their way around their home range. While territorial, red pandas are not aggressive. They warn each other off by bobbing their heads, raising the forepaws, and hissing.

Pandas pair off to mate, separating soon after. Due to delayed implantation during which the fertilized egg does not attach to the uterus for up to three months, newborns weigh just about 4.4 ounces (about 120 grams). The litter may consist of one to four cubs, but typically just two. To produce enough milk, the mother increases her bamboo intake threefold. The cubs stay with her for about a year or until she is ready to breed again.

Red pandas and people: Red pandas are popular zoo animals. Some Asian cultures make caps from the fur, believed to bring good fortune, especially to newlyweds.

Conservation status: The IUCN lists the red panda as Endangered due to habitat loss and fragmentation resulting from clearing forests for agriculture, timber, and fuel. Poachers (illegal hunters) harvest fur for trade. ∎

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Books:

Glatston, Angela R. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan for Procyonids and Ailurids: The Red Panda, Olingos, Coatis, Raccoons, and their Relatives. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN, 1994.

Kite, Patricia. Raccoons. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications Company, 2004.

MacClintock, Dorcas. Red Pandas: A Natural History. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1988.

Nowak, Ronald M. "Raccoons." Walker's Mammals of the World Online. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997. http://www.press.jhu.edu/books/walkers_mammals_of_the_world/carnivora/carnivora.procyonidae.procyon.html (accessed on July 6, 2004).

Zeveloff, Samuel I. Raccoons: A Natural History. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2002.

Periodicals:

Dorn, Jonathan. "Who Was That Masked Critter?" Backpacker (December 1995): 24–26.

Gilbert, Bil. "Ringtails Like To Be Appreciated: Although They Are by Nature Loners, These Clever 'Cats' Don't Mind a Little Human Companionship." Smithsonian (August 2000): 64–70.

Lotze, Joerg-Henner, and Sydney Anderson. "Procyon lotor." Mammalian Species 119 (June 8, 1979): 1–8.

Roberts, Miles. "Red Panda: The Fire Cat." ZooGoer 21, no. 2 (1992). Online at http://nationalzoo.si.edu/publications/zoogoer/1992/2/redpandasfirecat.cfm (accessed on July 6, 2004).

Roberts, Miles S., and John L. Gittelman. "Ailurus fulgens." Mammalian Species 222 (November 14, 1984): 1–8.

Web sites:

Heath, Terrell, and Josh Platnick. "Ailurus fulgens (Red Panda)." Animal Diversity web. http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Ailurus_fulgens.html (accessed on July 6, 2004).

"Procyonids: Raccoons, Ringtails & Coatis." Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. http://www.desertmuseum.org/books/nhsd_procyonids.html (accessed on July 6, 2004).