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Raccoons are very smart animals whose intelligence and physical characteristics have enabled them to adapt to all kinds of environments. They have excellent senses of smell, touch, and hearing, and their night vision is believed to be very good. They also have long, nimble fingers that enable them to do things like unlock gate latches, remove lids from garbage pails, open jars, and even untie knots.
Adult male raccoons tend to be solitary and territorial. Their home range usually covers about a one-mile radius from their den, although this can increase during the mating season or if food becomes scarce. Female raccoons tend to stay closer to home, and the range of a single male raccoon may encompass that of several females.
Raccoons bear their young in the spring, usually in a den in a hollow tree or a similar secluded area. A typical litter consists of three to six kits. The first two months of their life are spent in the den, where they are often left alone while their mother hunts and gathers. At about two months of age, they start exploring their environment outside the den; and sometime between the fall of their first year and the following spring, they leave the den to start life on their own -- often traveling many, many miles before settling down in a new area.
Raccoons are hunters by nature and are technically classified as carnivores, but they are omnivorous and will eat pretty much anything. In nature, they primarily eat fish, frogs and other amphibians, insects, birds, rodents and other small mammals, fruits, nuts, and berries. In human-habitated areas, they will look for food in garbage pails, dumpsters, and even insulated coolers.