Posted on 08/02/2019 9:33:31 AM PDT by Innovative
Common misperception. Raccoons do not have opposable thumbs.
Common misperception. Raccoons do not have opposable thumbs.
They are the perfect arboreal scavengers/small-prey predators. One of the most intelligent, very finicky about cleanliness to prevent disease, highly and successfully omnivorous, large claws, large teeth, strong jaws, high dexterity with four feet, long, compressable body, opposable thumbs, can run with their “hands” full, conditionally variable family sizes.
The only better adapted creatures for living among humans cheated: they made friends with us.
My bad, I put thumbs in quotes because they were not actually “thumbs.” But it turns out I had conflated ‘possums (which do have opposable thumbs) with pandas (which have an extended metatarsal which functions like a thumb) and in my mind came up with raccoons.
A number of years ago, the watershed that borders the east side of the sub had a pair of them that had built a dam on it. I thought they were cool, I would go down in the evening and watch them work. One of the ladies on our homeowners board reported them and the dam to the DNR for fear the damn would create an overflow of the road it bordered in case of a bad rainstorm. So the DNR came out and trapped them then destroyed the dam.
Turns out she was right. A month later we had about 3 days of heavy rains and even tho the dam was gone, the watershed overflowed up to the edge of the road. It would have been really bad if the beavers and their dam were still there.
Back to raccoons, I've caught several in my live trap that I would set out for the possums.
Earlier this summer I thought I had a small possum under my back deck so I set out the trap and my worst nightmare was realized the next morning when I went out to check it. There was a damn skunk in it......So, I threw a blanket over the trap so it wouldn't see me and try to spray then I released it.......There was nothing else I could do with it.
I also have a number of feral cats around my house, several lived under the deck of the house across the street. So one night I put my trail camera on the front porch and a bowl of cat food in the driveway. The camera captured 6 different cats that night.....On another night it captured a fox and a possum......
I've tried to trap the cats to take them to the local Humane Society for their Trap, Neuter and Release program but the cats would have nothing to do with the trap. After the skunk episode, I just gave up on it........Oh well, live and let live I guess.
There is a very small patch of woods in back of my house, and every once in a while -— at night —— I can hear some screeching sounds that last just a few seconds. There are opossums back there and I’ve seen skunks. Also deer. I always wonder who survived, or if it was just a scuffle.
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