Do The Villages raccoons wash their food?
Raccoons are unusual creatures, found mainly in North America it looks like a supersized fluffy rat. And just like rats, raccoons have learned to live with humans, usually being the culprit of bin bags that are torn to shreds. However, there is one peculiar ritual that people have noticed that raccoons do if they are near a body of water. This is that they appear to wash the food that they have.
This has been noticed so much that the Latin name for the Florida raccoon, Procyon lotor, translates into English as literally washing bear. This idea of an animal which carries rabies and other diseases but still washes its food quite the oxymoron - however they aren't ACTUALLY washing their food.
So what are they doing?
Although it appears that they are washing their food, they have also been observed doing the same gestures when not in or near a body of water. To add further mystery to the behaviour of The Villages raccoon they are very specific on what they actually “wash” with meat being washed more often than plants, and animals like earthworms do not get this treatment. So this is key to showing that although it looks like they are washing their food, not intentionally at least.
But why?
Some theorise that they are simply cleaning the food that they have. However, they do not clean the earthworms so this theory is already flawed. One suggestion is that Florida raccoons have similar nerves in their hands to humans, they even look kind of human like. The water helps improve the nerve responsiveness of the raccoons and so it is hypothesised (up until we develop a machine that lets us speak to animals we cannot say that this is the reason why) that they wash their hands to help increase the tactile feeling on their hands.
Visit our The Villages wildlife trapping home page to learn more about us.
So what are they doing?
Although it appears that they are washing their food, they have also been observed doing the same gestures when not in or near a body of water. To add further mystery to the behaviour of The Villages raccoon they are very specific on what they actually “wash” with meat being washed more often than plants, and animals like earthworms do not get this treatment. So this is key to showing that although it looks like they are washing their food, not intentionally at least.
But why?
Some theorise that they are simply cleaning the food that they have. However, they do not clean the earthworms so this theory is already flawed. One suggestion is that Florida raccoons have similar nerves in their hands to humans, they even look kind of human like. The water helps improve the nerve responsiveness of the raccoons and so it is hypothesised (up until we develop a machine that lets us speak to animals we cannot say that this is the reason why) that they wash their hands to help increase the tactile feeling on their hands.
Visit our The Villages wildlife trapping home page to learn more about us.