lindsay@MATHOM.GANDALF.CS.CMU.EDU (Donald Lindsay) (07/05/90)
I was under the impression that adult raccoons lived solitary lives, except when females raise young. Last night I discovered that two females were keeping their families in the same hole in the same tree! Is this unusual? (Observational details: The tree is an old oak in a mature forest, mostly oak. About 50' up, one arm of a crotch is broken off and ends in a hole. Raccoon families have been using this for at least a decade. Last night, momma and three kits came out just before dusk, yawned, stretched, groomed, etc, and eventually came down, sometimes head first. As dusk started, _another_ momma, and two more kits, emerged and did the same! Both mothers have a row of enlarged nipples, I can tell the mothers apart, and each always has the same number of kits travelling with them, so I'm quite sure of the situation. -- Don D.C.Lindsay