Talk:Common Raccoon

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How about an article on pet raccoon? There's an article on pet skunk. Kent Wang 11:23, 17 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Go for it. There are certainly a lot of resources on pet raccoons. Word has it that they are more destructive than skunks, though, and also have more of a tendency to bite. — Nathanlarson32767 (Talk) 03:19, 22 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Resources about pet raccoons: [1], [2].

how does 'washing' the food help them feel it? i've never known water to do anything but impair the sense of touch.

Good question. I'll post some sources here to further research the issue. Looks like the safest thing to say is that while they appear to wash their food, nobody knows why they do it. It doesn't seem to be because food is dirty.
  • [3] Says washing helps feel food
  • [4], [5], [6] Say studies are inconclusive and conclusions are speculative. [7] Comments that racoons even try to "wash" their food when there is no water.

I've edited the article text to reflect the above. Please comment and improve. Kent Wang 11:20, 17 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] raccoon distribution

Links explaining raccoon distribution: http://www.nsrl.ttu.edu/tmot1/procloto.htm http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/UW033 Liblamb 01:48, 19 Apr 2005 (UTC)


[edit] Scientific name

This page seems a little specific; Procyon lotor is not the only species known as the raccoon, and Procyon redirects back to this page. If this page is only for the common raccoon, shouldn't there be pages for racoons/Procyon in general?--Prosfilaes 06:31, 19 May 2005 (UTC)

Agreed—I've forked Procyon and retitled this page. The redirect from Raccoon to Common Raccoon is a little frustrating in terms of the sheer volume of pages, and ideally with a bit more work we could get the Procyon content into the Raccoon namespace down the line (akin to how Chimpanzee and Common Chimpanzee are split), but for now I think the redirect makes the most sense. -The Tom 03:55, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
A spate of impatience/boredom on my part has now gotten Raccoon up and running as the genus article. -The Tom 07:32, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Social raccoons

"Raccoons usually live together in small, loose groups." Aren't these "groups" actually the female with her kits, including immature males. Raccoons are intensely territorial at some times of the year. "Groups" of raccoons may be drawn together briefly by a windfall, such as downed plums in an orchard. --Wetman 06:29, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

The statement is correct, though "often" would be better than "usually". Related females often share a territory and males ofen form groups of 2 to 4 individuals. If there is enough food available, they are surely not "intensely territorial" and it's not uncommon to see more than a dozen raccoons altogether at rich feeding grounds. --89.14.66.146 19:49, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Half Albino?

What does that mean? What research? --Gbleem 13:36, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Ringed tail

I am surprised that although the article describes the racoon's ringed tail as being a distinctive feature there are no photos on the pagee in which this is visible. I think that might be a good addition to the article, I notice there is such a picture on the swedish article linked above. Stardust8212 16:29, 17 January 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Merge

Someone suggested that this article be merged, yet started no debate about it. I suppose I'll take it upon myself to do so. Aprogressivist 15:57, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Tentatively oppose: The Common Raccoon is a type species of the raccoon; there does seem to be some ground, therefore, to differentiate between the two. Aprogressivist 15:57, 18 January 2007 (UTC)
I am the main writer of the featured German article and I think that there should be an article about the raccoons and the common raccoon. Our solution is, that "raccoon" leads to the big article for the common raccoon, wheras "raccoons" leads to the overview article for the genus Procyon. Currently, your raccoon article contains info which is supposed to be in the common raccoon article. However, both articles are not really satisfying, especially the completely unnecessary chapter about raccoons as food. --89.14.66.146 19:36, 26 January 2007 (UTC)
  • I agree- because the other species of raccoon have their own articles, the common raccon should have one Ryan shell 20:46, 5 February 2007 (UTC)
  • Oppose; we need a page for Procyon. I don't see why the section about raccoons as food is completely unnecessary; animals which have been used as food animals by humans should have something mentioning that on their pages. It should probably be here in Common Raccoon, though.--Prosfilaes 22:17, 5 February 2007 (UTC)
  • Oppose, for organizational reasons if nothing else. It seems to me that much of the material now in the genus article actually belongs here though. When we're talking about urban-adapted raccoons and those introduced into Europe, Procyon lotor is the specific species, no? TCC (talk) (contribs) 03:56, 23 February 2007 (UTC)
  • Oppose I just happened to surf over here and happened to catch and fix some vandalism. But then I saw this debate and figured I'd weigh in. I'm no zoologist, but I think it's pretty clear that taxonomically it's unacceptable to merge the two articles. Since everyone seems to already agree on this point, it's probably okay to remove the merge header and just start working on making sure information is in the right article. --JayHenry 04:16, 21 March 2007 (UTC)
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