Raccons

     Raccoons are black and white mammals that can sometimes be viscous. Raccoons are active at night. These animals live throughout North and South america and Asia. Through-out the winter, raccoons do not hibernate, although they do sleep for a long period of time. In order for it to be true hibernation, the animal should look almost dead. This is because the animals' body temperature and heart rate drop substantially. In order for raccoons to stay warm through the winter, they gain extra body fat in the fall. Raccoons crawl around on all four paws on land, and also are excellent swimmers, in fact they get a lot of their food from under water. Raccoons eat things such as, bird eggs, fruits, seeds, nuts and plants on land. As for underwater, they hunt things such as frogs, fish and crayfish. Raccoons make their dens in cracks and burrows of high trees or abandon buildings. Normally female raccoons give birth to three or four baby raccoons in the spring. The baby raccoons' eyes do not open until 20 days after being born. When the babies get older they will grow rings around their tails and masks around their eyes. After eight to ten weeks, the baby raccoons come out of their burrow. The mother raccoon is almost always protective of her babies, sometimes not even allowing the father come near them. Most raccoons live around five years if they are in the wild. Some raccoons can live up to 20 years if kept in captivity. There are seven different species of raccoons.