16 Interesting Facts About Baby Raccoons You Probably Did Not Know

There are lots of interesting facts about baby raccoons that you may have been ignoring. Because while these cute little mammals are generous in flashing their cuteness before humans, they have some secrets that they may not be so generous with. And even when they flash these secrets before us, we may be too busy admiring them, to read any meaning to them.

While we agree that baby raccoons can make lovely pets, especially an abandoned raccoon baby. If you don’t know these fun facts about your baby raccoon pet, you may end up solving puzzles each step of the way. Because as they flash their raccoons’ secrets before you, they may appear too simple to mean a thing. Or too complicated for you to observe.  

You might want to forget about some of the things you have heard about baby raccoons because you are about to read some interesting facts about baby raccoons. So, to help you understand baby raccoons and be able to predict them, here are the fun facts about baby raccoons to note;

Baby Raccoons Are Highly Intelligent 

Do you know that a raccoon has about 438 million neurons in its brain? Baby raccoons may look small and cute but there is nothing small about their mental capacity. The high number of neurons in their brains makes it possible for them to think and even solve problems. 

This interesting fact about baby raccoons also means that they have a good memory.  Which is why they can learn from their mistakes and avoid repeating them. Their good memory also helps the females to return to their birth den and have their babies during the next breeding seasons. 

Baby Raccoons Have Lots of Mechanoreceptor Cells in Their Hands

One of the most interesting facts about baby raccoons is that their fingers are almost as sensitive as those of humans.

When we talk of animals with sensitive fingers, our minds quickly go to primates like humans, monkeys, gorillas, and others. But a baby raccoon also has a high number of these mechanoreceptor cells in their hands that make them sensitive and able to grip things. 

This is how baby raccoons can hold on to the body of trash cans and climb unto them while looking for food. And just like primates, baby raccoons’ hands are more sensitive than those of other animals.

Baby Raccoons Form the Duckling Line

Have you ever seen ducklings walking behind their mother in a straight line? That’s how baby raccoons love to walk behind their mother too. They move in a straight line like little soldiers on the parade ground.

This is a common sight in the suburbs where raccoons are always found. Home owners usually find these cute mammals walking in lines behind their mothers as they explore the environment, looking for food. 

Baby Raccoons Are Not Born with Bandits Masks

Another interesting fact about baby raccoons is that these legendary ‘masked bandits’ were not born that way. When baby raccoons are born, they do not have the ‘black mask’ that gave raccoons the name ‘masked bandits’. Their furs are usually lighter than those of adult raccoons and tend to get darker with age. 

Baby raccoons are ‘innocent’ creatures. Their natural masks only start getting visible from 3 months of age and keep getting visible till they are ready to start stealing food from your gardens and surroundings. Making them fully developed ‘masked bandits’. 

Baby Raccoon do Not Leave Home Till Around a Year

For the baby raccoons, home is anywhere their mothers are. So, they tend to stay around their mothers for about a year before moving out to live independently. Although the young males leave home earlier than that, female baby raccoons stay with their mothers for up to a year. 

Baby Raccoons Are Born Helpless and Highly Dependent on Their Mother. 

A baby raccoon cannot do anything on their own. Because they are born blind and deaf. Baby raccoons only begin to stand at about 5 weeks, and they keep sucking their mother’s breast till about 8 to 12 weeks.

Till they are old enough to venture out of their den with the mom, they live on whatever the mom gives to them. 

Baby Raccoons Are Not Nocturnal  

Do you know that baby raccoons are not born nocturnal? Just like human babies, baby raccoons have odd timings for everything. While raccoons are nocturnal animals, baby raccoons are very active during the day and tend to sleep a little at night. 

They only adjust to the normal raccoons’ time and become nocturnal gradually as they grow and mature. Since being nocturnal will also help them to escape from predators during the day, baby raccoons become nocturnal as their survival skills improve.

Baby Raccoons Are Social Animals

You might have heard that raccoons are not very social and so should remain in the wild. But what if I tell you that baby raccoons are social animals?

Baby raccoons are quite different from adult raccoons when it comes to relating with humans because a baby raccoon will form a bond with its human caregiver faster than you can imagine. 

There have also been cases of orphaned baby raccoons befriending humans. This is something that an adult raccoon is not capable of, as they tend to be wild and unpredictable. A baby raccoon will play around just like cats, one of the reasons they make excellent pets. 

Baby Raccoon Are Good Hunters From 5 months of Age

Even though baby raccoons depend on their mothers for the first few months of their lives, they learn to hunt very early in life. And as early as 5 months, baby raccoons are good hunters already and can be seen hunting down little mammals like mice and insects for food. 

Baby Raccoons Love to Make Noise

Another interesting fact about baby raccoons is that despite being born deaf, the moment they develop the ability to ‘talk’, they tend to get noisy. They play and make lots of noise that make sharing your home with a nursing mother raccoon and her litter very unpleasant.

Baby raccoons do not know when to keep quiet and their non-nocturnal lifestyle makes it even more difficult for humans around baby raccoons to sleep peacefully at night.  

Females Mature Faster Than Males 

Do you know that it takes male raccoons about 2 years to get sexually mature while females start breeding within one year? Female baby raccoons are always known to grow faster than males. Because the females have to mature early enough for the next breeding season.

So their reproductive system gets mature earlier than their brothers’, to accommodate pregnancy. This is an interesting fact about baby raccoons to note because the females will start breeding long before the males from the same litter are ready to mate.

Baby Raccoons Form Bachelor Groups

Even though male baby raccoons do not mature early, they leave home before the females. The young male raccoons tend to break out from their litter and form a small group of ‘bachelor raccoons’ with other male baby raccoons.

Since they have left their mother’s protection and care, the group will increase their chances of survival as they hunt together and come together to defend their territory against enemies.  

Baby Raccoons Have Whisker on Their Toe

Do you know that baby raccoons grow whiskers on their toes? One interesting fact about baby raccoons is that they grow whiskers on their toes, to make their toes more sensitive. And their increased sensitivity will enable them to forage successfully.

Baby Raccoons Grow Teeth Late 

Baby raccoons do not grow teeth early, they are born without teeth. They start growing teeth in just about 6 weeks, the same time you start introducing them to solid foods.

An adult raccoon has a total of 40 teeth, but they do not start developing these teeth till after the first 6 weeks of their lives.

Female Baby Raccoons Have To Carry on the Family Tradition  

Because baby raccoons are intelligent animals, they have good memories which the females use to trace their birth den and have their litters in their adult stage.

While the male baby raccoons are busy with their ‘bachelor group’, the females are busy with their family tradition of giving birth in the same den they were born. 

Baby Raccoon Are Not Born hairless 

The last of the 16 interesting facts about baby raccoons that we want to share with you is that baby raccoons are born with hair.

You must have heard that baby raccoons are born as ‘hairless wonders’. But they are born with hairs covering their bodies, they just look hairless because the hairs are tiny. These hairs grow with time and cover their entire skin.  

Conclusion

With these interesting facts about baby raccoons, you know what to expect when a raccoon gives birth in your house. Or when you want to pet a baby raccoon.

And the next time you see a whisker on a baby raccoon’s toe, or you see it climbing a trash can, you already know why and how.