raccoon

(also ‘North American raccoon’, ‘northern raccoon’, ‘coon’) {spelling – sometimes with only one ‘c’ = ‘racoon’}

a kind of animal – mammal – four-legged – grass- & meat-eating (omnivorous) – (mostly) nocturnal (= active at night) – medium-sized with long brown to reddish-brown or grey fur (hair), broad head with slightly rounded straight ears bordered with white hair, round clear eyes with a black mask that runs over the eyes and cheeks, long pointed snout (= mouth and nose part) with white hair round the black nose, relatively short legs with five toes – front paws look like a human’s hand, long bushy ringed tail; size: 1½-2½ long with and extra 8-16 inch-long tail, and weight: 4-10 Kg. (male larger than female); feeds on (eats) insects, worms, small animas, including fish frogs, and plant matter; lives for 2-4 years in the wild (some individuals may live up to 10-15 years even in the wild) and 20 years in captivity; several sub-species found in North America, introduced to Europe and part of Asia

male ~~ boar

female ~~ sow

baby ~~ kit or cub

group ~~ nursery; mask; gaze

voice (call) ~~ {no particular name} purr, whimper, snarl, growl, hiss, scream

home ~~ den (in the wild); pen (man-made)

Special Features:

The ‘common raccoon’ is the state animal of Tennessee, USA.

The striking features of the raccoon are the dark face mask and the 4-6 ringed bushy tail.  The dark face mask has given the raccoon the infamous nickname “backyard bandit”!

Raccoons fore-paws are very sensitive to touch; just as people feel things with their hands, raccoons also feel things with the thick pads on the bottom of their paws.

Some animal experts believe that the raccoon’s habit of ‘washing’ some things they eat in water is to know about the that thing better because the sensitive pads on heir feet are believed to work better in water!!

Raccoons have been hunted for their meat and fur for hundreds of years.  The cap made of raccoon skin, called “coonskin cap” were very popular in the beginning of the 20^th century. Thousands of raccoons have been killed to supply the skins for the fur industry!

Though some people love to keep raccoons as pets, the animal experts suggest against keep them as pets as they have never been domesticated and also raccoons carry rabies!

Raccoons have had a special place in North American native people’s culture; and ‘coons’ have been featured in several stories for children, in several animated films, such as ‘Over the Hedge’, ‘Dr Do little 2’, etc; in several TV & radio programmes; and, more recently, in several popular video games!

Raccoons are so popular that they are used in the logos of many companies!!

Figures of Speech:

1.

to coon (racoon) (verb)  =  to crawl on one’s hands and knees

2.

a coon’s age  =  a very long time

3.

(a)  not care a pinch of coon shit

(b)  not worth a pinch of coon shit

4.

to play coony  =  to act with cunning

5.

a gone coon [said of a person who is very near his complete destruction or other unpleasant, or terrible state of affairs]

6. coon

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