Evening star., 1948-09-21
This and That
BIZ Charles E. Tr1ceDell
foote's BAY, Ontario.

Dear Sir:
IT have hadathe opportunity for many sum-
mers to watch raccoons in their native habitat,
and am deeply interested in their manner Of
eating. 1t is believed that all coons wash
their food before eating, or while eating. For
years have seen them doing this.
Imagine my surprise to find as watched
them every night that they did not wash the
food had put out for them. In fact, they
drank the water always placed near their
food. During the past summer the food I
gave them consisted of greens, such as cab
bage leaves, lettuce, celery tops, carrot tops.
Last summer gave them leftover corn
bread, which moulded easily as the weather
was abnormally hot and the bread could not
be used on the table. We cut the bread into
rather large blocks and it was interesting to
see those coons-seven in number-handle
that bread and poke 1t into their mouths with
their paws.
I'VE put out some ears of corn, left over
from our dinner table, though denuded of
every kernel, and the way those coons enjoyed
those cobs was joy to us. The pan Of water
nearby was a boon to them, for often after
the food had been eaten, it refreshed their
throats, evidently, for they drank it frequently.
"Of the seven raccoons, possibly you'd like
to know, there were two youngsters, the
mother and four others, one of them recog-
nized by us as an old-time friend, identified
by his limp, also his ugly color, dirty tan.
and what seemed to be, in the dusk, very
heavy ugly eyebrows.
I'VE snapped a camera at the entire group
one evening. Six Immediately ran as If
frightened to death. but Old Man Tan, as we
called the oldtimer, stood his ground on his
hind feet, staring at the camera and tripod.
It was a scream to US, standing behind the
kitchen door, watching
There was a scarcity of coons here on
Muskoka this year. due, of course, to the fact
that trappers are still getting high prices for
week and hope to ind my bird friends again
in Woodley place. Sincerely, E. Y. c."
%&
We guess raccoons have as much right to
wash or not to wash as any one else. Maybe
coons are becoming too civilized, have gone a
long way from their primitive forest habits,
have decided that 1t Is "too much trouble" to
wash their food. Perhaps they have been
watching the vacationists, see they do not wash
their food, but rather wash 1t down with
draughts of water. Animals have eyes, and
certain types of brains They can build up
new habits, too, If for some reason or other
they happen to get started on them. Cats
living in homes soon develop whole new
complex of living habits. Many housecats 60
to bed each night as solernnly as their two
legged friends, and sleep as long. Mealtimes
for the housecats are affairs coming so many
hours after previous meal. Real hunger has
no more to do with it than true hunger plays
a part in the average human nutrition. It is
a matter of so many hours without food. The
resulting gnawing is not really hunger, but
something else. Animals soon get this type Of
pseudo-hunger as well as human beings They
do not have coffee, however, to make them
feel better between meals.
There can be little doubt that at times the
raccoon washes his food, and at other times
he does not. He has his own theory, evidently,
as to when to wash, and when not to wash.
The washing may be nothing more than the
habit of some coons. Perhaps some are
finicky, who knows or believe in germs? But
the basic habit of food cleanliness among the
raccoons is well established. The Encyclopedia
Americana says:
1.-The members of the typical genus Procyon
possess six incisors, two caninea, eight pre-
molars and four molars in each jaw, and the
groupss well exemplifled in the common rae
coon, Procyon lotor which derives its specific
name from lotor, a washer, from its habit OF
washing its prey before eating it, or holding
the food in the forepaws and shaking it
violently backward and forward in the water
so as to moisten it and saturate 1t as thor
oughly as possible
The Encyclopedia Britannica states emphat-
ically: THE raccoon has curious habit OF
washing its food in water before eating It,"
There are many exceptions, evidently.