It's night and you hear a crash in the backyard. Someone shines the flashlight out the back door. There, on the tipped garbage can, sits a big raccoon. These excellent climbers and swimmers thrive in almost any environment and eat everything from crayfish to corn--not to mention garbage. Raccoons are most active at night. During the day they can sometimes be spotted sunbathing in trees.

Identification

General description: Raccoons are the size of a small dog and have heavy fur streaked in brown, black, and gray. They have bushy ringed tails and their paws make hand-like prints in the mud or snow. Their black eye stripes resemble a mask.

Length: 30 to 37 inches, and a 9- to 12-inch tail.

Weight: Between 15 and 20 pounds. Minnesota's largest trapped raccoon weighed 36 pounds.

Color: Mostly brown, black ,and gray.

Sounds: Raccoons hiss and growl and screech like an owl.

Reproduction

During the mating season, February to March, the male raccoon travels long distances and mates with many females. About nine weeks after mating, females have two to six young. They find shelter in either hollow trees or dens (woodchuck burrows, culverts, under buildings). Once they reach four to six months old, raccoons live on their own.

Food

Raccoons eat nuts, berries, insects, frogs, crayfish, garden vegetables, grain, rodents, animal remains, and garbage.

Predators

Coyotes, foxes, great horned owls, bobcats, and dogs all kill raccoons.

Habitat and range

Raccoons are found throughout the state, but are rare in the extreme northeast. Their habitat includes prairies, woodlands and even cities.

Population and management

The DNR estimates that 800,000 to one million raccoons live throughout the state. Each year Minnesota hunters harvest 100,000 to 150,000 raccoons and trappers take another 75,000 to 100,000.

Fun facts

Raccoons aren't very afraid of people. Living in cities, they sometimes invade attics, chimneys and porches. A raccoon is a powerful fighter that can kill an attacking dog twice its weight.