Have you ever wondered about the little masked robber named the raccoon? This little fur ball has a short plump body with long fur. It is reddish brown above and black or grayish below. The head is brown. It is thirty-two inches long. It weighs eleven to forty-six pounds. The males are bigger than the females.  The raccoon's muzzle is very pointy. It has stripes between its eyes. It has four to six black or brown rings around its tail. The raccoon's tail is seven and one half to sixteen inches long. The front feet of a raccoon look like a person's hands. The back feet are much bigger than the front feet and they look like a person's feet.

Raccoons are found in southern Canada and most of the United States. They live in marshes, forests, prairies, and by streams and logs. They use hollow trees or they take burrows from other animals to raise their young.

Raccoons eat almost anything.  They search for food along streams and banks.  Raccoons eat frogs, crayfish, mice, fruit, plants grubs and garbage. They also eat grapes, nuts, crickets, baby birds, eggs and small mammals.

The raccoon can live up to six years in the wild. The mating season is from February to March following a gestation of sixty-three days. Females have an average of four to five babies.  The babies are called kits or cubs.  The kits are born in April or May.  Raccoons are nocturnal, which means they are most active at night.

Winter is the raccoons worst enemy. The winter is harsh for them because they cannot find their food. Most of the animals they live off of hibernate during the winter.  Predators to raccoons are the great horned owl, bobcat, eagles and dogs.

They often live in hollow trees and logs.  Raccoons sometimes live in chimneys or old cars.  Raccoons give off a bad smell to get rid of their enemies.  Their tracks show one back foot beside one front foot. Some fishermen were teasing a raccoon by tying food to a fishing line. While they teased it, its buddies went into their camp and took all their food out of their coolers.