It's fitting that the common names evolved from a Native American word, as the raccoon is strictly a New World animal found in North and Central America. As with many wildlife species, we view the raccoon with mixed emotions. Some raccoons are destructive, damaging crops and gardens and raiding nests of game and domestic birds. But in the end, the true value of any life form cannot be measured in man's terms. Raccoons have worth simply because they are one of the many fascinating and interlocking segments of nature.
Males are generally larger and heavier than females.
Records exist of raccoons weighing up to 40 pounds, but individuals this heavy are extremely rare in the wild. A raccoon's fur is long, soft and colored a grizzled black-brown. The bushy tail is marked with alternating rings of light and dark fur. Broad cheeks, a long slender muzzle, erect, rounded ears and a black strip or mask across the cheeks and eyes give the raccoon a masked bandit-like appearance. The fur on a raccoon's feet is light gray in color, and the soles of the paws are hairless.