Why raccoons wash their food

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Our Location. Our Partners. Honey Island Swamp. Born and raised in Milwaukee, Marcus combines the academic training M. Wildlife Biology, UW Madison with the field training and skills to be successful in resolving wildlife conflict for home and business owners. Connect with the author via: LinkedIn. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

The Food Washing Enigma Explained Raccoons rely heavily on their sense of touch to identify the items they interact with, especially food.

Other Advantages of the Raccoon Paw Another amazing feature of raccoons is their amazingly dexterous paws. How This Impacts the Handling of Your Raccoon Situations So the next time you spot a raccoon washing its food, you can go ahead and bemuse the fact that it appears to be a very hygienic animal, after all, it is a fun way to view the animals. Average: 5. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads.

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These choices will be signaled globally to our partners and will not affect browsing data. Raccoons are one of the most common animals in Pennsylvania. They are regularly spotted nearly everywhere in the state. However, a great deal of myth and misconception has grown around the species. Compiled by Marcus Schneck mschneck pennlive. Do raccoons wash their food before eating? The short answer is no. The longer, and more interesting, answer is raccoons spend a lot of time around water, where they search for food by probing the nooks and crannies among the pebbles and debris on the stream, river or lake.

When they find something that might be food, they roll it around in their front paws to determine exactly what it is. The front paws of a raccoon are extremely sensitive and they use that sensitivity to identify potential food items.

If a raccoon encounters a likely item at a distance from water, they will roll it around in their paws right there, without involving any water. It also will often rub its paws together when holding nothing. However, researchers have determined that wetting the paws increases their sensitivity. Most observations of raccoons occur around water, leading to the myth that they wash their food before eating. Where can I get a pet raccoon? Also, you probably would not be very happy with a pet raccoon.

Baby raccoons are cute and even cuddly at times. However, when they reach maturity, they can be fierce, aggressive and bullheaded. As adults, they also are strong and capable of delivering serious injury. Are raccoons major carriers of rabies?