What does a raccoon eat in nature and in captivity?

Raccoon poloskun - very interesting and funny animal. He is interesting not only to scientists, but also to ordinary inhabitants. For example, it is useful to know what raccoons eat, whether they can be kept at home, how long they live. To answer these questions, you need to read this article.

Life of a raccoon

Before you find out what the raccoon is eating, you need to remember where this animal lives.

The most common animals in North America. But through the points of issue, the raccoon was in France. Gradually the settling of the animal happened throughout Europe.

Raccoons prefer to settle in old trees of mixed forests. If there are nearby water bodies or marshes - the animal will consider that life was a success. The hollows of ancient trees will be an excellent place for an animal's nest, and water is just a gift for a raccoon. Coniferous forests and areas without water these animals carefully avoid. In addition, they can live in the rocks, crevices, abandoned houses of badgers. They use already ready caves, because they can not dig the land themselves.

Lifestyle

In nature, what a raccoon eats, directly depends on the locality and way of life. In general, this is a night beast. And he goes out hunting at night. At the same time, he examines about 1.5 km in search of food.

Raccoons perfectly climb, so the search for food is not only on the ground, but also on the branches of trees. The tricks that a raccoon can do is envy of any acrobat. The animal hangs on branches, clinging to them for paws, descends from the tree with its head down and does much more.

The raccoon hunts with excellent vision and sensitive vibrissae. Surprisingly, these sensitive tendrils grow in this species not only on the head, but also near the claws, on the abdomen, on the breast, on the inside of the extremities. This allows animals to feel the movement of air or the vibration of the earth, which gives them an idea of finding a prey or, on the contrary, a predator, from which it is necessary to hide.

Raccoon poloskun is the only representative of raccoon, which falls into hibernation. Sleep for 5-6 months directly affects the nutrition of animals.

Nutrition in nature

They feed on animals in nature very diverse. Most often prefer invertebrates or crayfish. However, there are individuals eager to feed on vertebrate beings. Then it will be mostly rats, squirrels, shrews, amphibians. Very often, because a raccoon is eating, there may be a turtle.

The menu of the raccoon strongly depends on the season. So, in the beginning of spring, at the end of autumn, animals tend to eat animal feed. But by the second half of summer and autumn the animal raccoon is trying to switch to vegetable food.

The main food of the raccoon is frogs, insect larvae, snakes, crabs, fish, crabs, bird eggs, rodents. Raccoon raccoons are especially popular among this list. They also can not pass by an earthworm or snail.

During periods of eating plant foods, the raccoon feeds on berries, fruits, nuts, and acorns. Its name - "poloskun" - the animal received because of the habit of washing all of its food. Even living in captivity, the animal will necessarily rinse the product, no matter how clean it may be. However, this habit is in no way connected with cleanliness or cleanliness: the raccoon is fully capable of eating from garbage cans.

In summer and autumn, when various vegetables and fruits ripen, with great pleasure the raccoon eats grapes, nuts, acorns, apples, corn. This is explained by the fact that such food is much more accessible than animal food.

Raccoon content

Actually, it is not difficult to keep a raccoon in captivity, especially at a young age. These animals are very charming, playful, fairly clean. However, the animal is capable of showing self-will, excessive curiosity and stubbornness, which causes quite serious problems. In addition, at the onset of puberty, the good nature of animals declines, they can become uncommunicative or even aggressive. Thanks to natural artistry and abilities for acrobatic stunts, animals become favorites of the whole family, with whom you can have fun. It is interesting that the animal seems to realize its prettiness and attractiveness, thus achieving excellent friendly relations with man.

Feeding in captivity

If the animal is kept in captivity, there is practically no question of what the raccoon is eating. He eats everything. And sometimes he does not eat the most useful food: he can get chips, pieces of pizza, bread or even get addicted to carbonated drinks from garbage .

However, with the correct approach to feeding in captivity, the raccoon is eating grapes, nuts, apples, pears, and can even be treated with a banana. He can give grain mixtures, but necessarily raw, boiled will be harmful to the wild animal.

An excellent motivation for domesticating raccoons can be the fact that at home they live 12-16 years, in the wild the maximum age they reach is 5 years. No matter how the advocates of the wild nature may fuss, they can not but admit that in captivity, raccoons live many times better.