Raccoon

It seems like this animal is always in some kind of mischief! That’s because the Raccoon often searches for its food in garbage cans, knocking them over and making a mess. It likes to eat frogs, bird eggs, acorns and wild berries, but will snack on leftovers that humans put in the trash. For this reason, the Raccoon is sometimes called the Ring-tailed Bandit or the Masked Bandit.

The name Raccoon comes from the Algonquin Indian word “arakun,” meaning, “he scratches with hands.” The Raccoon is a great climber with nimble paws and five little fingers. They can unlace a shoe, un-latch a cage, and even steal a dime from your pocket!

Raccoons have grayish-brown fur, short, pointy ears, and a black mask around the eyes and black rings around its tail. Raccoons spend the coldest part of the winter in a den. One raccoon, named Rebecca, lived in the White House! She was the pet of President Coolidge and his wife.

Photographs by