Saturday, 26 November 2011

Awesome Nature #6

Raccoon
Type: Mammal Lives In: Central and North America Conservation Status: Least Concern

I imagine some of my North American friends won't be too keen on these mischievous creatures but since I don't live that side of the Atlantic they are rather intriguing to me! Much of their appeal no doubt comes from their distinctive appearance, but are they friends to us stupid Humans or are they foes? I suppose they're a bit like foxes are over here - they're about the same size, albeit with much shorter legs (while sharing their ringed tails with lemurs), and both are furry, omnivorous, nocturnal animals that are native to wooded areas, but which now also live in urban areas thanks to our recklessly-increasing population. This means many regard them as pests since they forage in people's gardens and steal their food! If they are pests though, I can't really see anyone else to blame, and they certainly look nice. Any readers across the Atlantic got any amusing raccoon tales to tell?

Why It Is Awesome: It wears a bandit mask!
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7 comments:

  1. Sean27 November 2011 at 08:50

    I like Raccoons actually. When I was in the army they used to sometimes come into our camps in Northern Ontario and break into the garbage (which I didn`t like). I remember once being alone in a command centre monitoring the radios in the middle of the night once when one of them ventured in to try to break one of the bags open. I was so bored I was actually glad to see him, but sadly had to chase him out since it would have been me cleaning up the mess if he had gotten into one of the trash bags.

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  2. RetroKingSimon27 November 2011 at 16:01

    That story made me smiles :) I've never seen a Raccoon in real-life but I'd like to...

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  3. Marco Grande Arbitro27 November 2011 at 22:11

    First I introduce myself: my name is Marco, I'm a blogger and I discovered this Italian blog as I wandered on the Internet. Thank you for Avatr Austin Powers is too cool! Above all, congratulations for the blog!
    When I think of raccoons (which unfortunately are not in my part) I think the video game Sly Raccoon! Condordo: The raccoon is a wily thief, lol!

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  4. RetroKingSimon27 November 2011 at 23:27

    Hi Marco, thanks for the comment and for following! That's a great looking blog you've got there too but I'll have to read it with the help of a translator I'm afraid :P I haven't heard of Sly Raccoon, they're a bit too recent for me I think!

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  5. Marco Grande Arbitro28 November 2011 at 01:13

    Thanks for the follow!
    We'll see you soon: to the next post!
    Bye!

    PS:my English is not the best:)

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  6. NintendoLegend5 December 2011 at 02:10

    Somewhere, I have a picture of me hand-feeding one at a state park. Fun stuff. They get pretty smart -- I have seen two work in tandem; one held open the lid of a dumpster, while the second got in and scavenged for food.

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  7. RetroKingSimon8 December 2011 at 09:59

    Haha, that's awesome! They sound a lot like foxes over here except they look funnier :)

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