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Brazilian dude
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Postby Brazilian dude » Wed Feb 01, 2006 4:26 pm

They grow only over the summer? What do they do over the winter? Hibernate?

Brazilian dude
Languages rule!

KatyBr
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Postby KatyBr » Wed Feb 01, 2006 4:57 pm

When you win that house, Tim and I will bring you the skunks! :)
I figured you and your family might want to stay and visit, the house is huge and the guest wing is complete with a small kitchen and laundry facilities.

but if you just want me to take your skunks, well, ok.
and Apo,
Racoons are a big pest here too, Katy! People don't understand how aggressive and persistent they are. They are very cute when they are young, but they grow up just over the summer. I know the Bumble Bros. (three racoons that grew up over the summer here) still come looking for food here, even though I have long since stopped leaving food out over night.
I'm at my wit's end here, I'm so worried about the racoons,but I also know they'll be right back, ripping out the wood to get in even if I trap them humanely and get them moved. I don't want to poison them but I may have to.

Kt

Apoclima
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Postby Apoclima » Wed Feb 01, 2006 5:04 pm

They are not true hibernators, but something like bears and squirrels, they will curl up for weeks at a time if it is too cold.
They will lose almost half of their weight by the end of hibernation. When it gets really cold [below 25 degrees Fahrenheit], the raccoon will go to its den to sleep. Dens are usually in hollow trees and logs. Raccoons have lots of different trees where they like to sleep and they go to a different one every night. Sometimes they use the ground burrows of other animals to sleep in during winter. They do not usually hibernate alone, but have others with them. In warmer climates, raccoons stay active all year.
Raccoon hibernation is more like torpor. This torpor is like bears do. They wake up from time to time during winter and might even go out to hunt a little. They eat and then go back to sleep. Their heartbeats and breathing slow down, but not as much as hibernator bodies do.
No, they don't grow much in the winter, but it depends on how cold vs. how active they are. Raccoons definitely grow the most over the summer. The biggest one I have seen was about three feet long, about the size of a young bear cub, but boy he was scary looking. He was crossing between my house and the next house over. It was night, and at first I thought it was a dog with bad legs, but he was coming straight at me; I was half behind a tree. I yelled out an "awgh" in my sudden realization that it was not a dog, but a huge raccoon, and he ran off.

Image

Bats are too scary. My dad got one out of our house with a blancket and a box. I was screaming just like my brother and sisters. Man, that thing was ugly!

Apo
'Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination.' -Max Planck

KatyBr
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Postby KatyBr » Wed Feb 01, 2006 7:50 pm

Last Spring two large stray dogs cornered a racoon in the woods, and over 100feet away and through all the barking I could hear the racoon growling and snarling, the two big dogs were sent packing and yowling btw.

Kt
racoons are scary and big and we see them ALL the time out by our woods behind our house.

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Postby gailr » Wed Feb 01, 2006 11:12 pm

Tim, now we all know where we stand, each of us socio-politically, so we needn't beat that particular dead horse again.
Then don't.

And others won't, either.

But it's no fair tossing out little hand grenades and then feigning surprise when someone lobs one back.

-gailr
Last edited by gailr on Wed Feb 01, 2006 11:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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gailr
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Postby gailr » Wed Feb 01, 2006 11:14 pm

Bats are too scary. My dad got one out of our house with a blancket and a box. I was screaming just like my brother and sisters. Man, that thing was ugly!

Apo
Hmmm, I see you would have been of no practical use, after all, in my close encounter with a bat, Apo... :lol:

-gailr

KatyBr
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Postby KatyBr » Wed Feb 01, 2006 11:25 pm

Then don't.

And others won't, either.

But it's no fair tossing out little hand grenades and then feigning surprise when someone lobs one back.

-gailr
I think you need some chocolate.
Kt

Stargzer
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Postby Stargzer » Thu Feb 02, 2006 1:35 am

T . . . The biggest one I have seen was about three feet long, about the size of a young bear cub, but boy he was scary looking. He was crossing between my house and the next house over. It was night, and at first I thought it was a dog with bad legs, but he was coming straight at me; I was half behind a tree. I yelled out an "awgh" in my sudden realization that it was not a dog, but a huge raccoon, and he ran off.

Image
. . .
Apo
IT's no wonder you thought it was a dog! Following your link, I found out that raccoons are in the Family Procyonidae. Procyonidae seemed familiar to me:
Procyon (α CMi / α Canis Minoris / Alpha Canis Minoris) is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Minor and the eighth brightest star in the nighttime sky.

Its name comes from the Greek προκύον (Prokyōn), meaning "before the dog", since it precedes the "Dog Star" Sirius as it travels across the sky due to Earth's rotation.
Raccoons are mammals native to the Americas in the genus Procyon of the Procyonidae family. Raccoons are notable for their thumbs, which (though not opposable) enable them to open many closed containers (such as garbage cans) and doors. They are intelligent omnivores with a reputation for slyness and mischief.

. . .
The word "raccoon" is derived from the Algonquian word aroughcoune, "he who scratches with his hands." The genus name, Procyon, comes from the Greek for "pre-dog"; this term is also used for the star Procyon.
Regards//Larry

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee

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Postby Stargzer » Thu Feb 02, 2006 1:46 am

And speaking of raccoons, I just saw the movie Pom Poko (The Raccoon War) the other day on Turner Classic Movies.

Hayao Miyazaki was the Executive Producer; any movie he is involved with is well worth watching.
Regards//Larry

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee

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Postby Flaminius » Thu Feb 02, 2006 11:38 am

Like Princess Mononoke. This is the only movie for which I went to the cinema three times. But Miyazaki movies are fully of imageries laden with meaning. Sometimes equivocal, sometimes vivid, sometimes lyrical, they are more to make viewers think than to deliver them messages.

Flam

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Postby Flaminius » Thu Feb 02, 2006 11:40 am

I don't know if the protagonists in Pompoko are scientifically called racoons because the latter do not possess the legendary power of tanukis to change their shapes.

Stargzer
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Postby Stargzer » Fri Feb 03, 2006 1:54 am

The Tanuki
Tanuki have been part of Japanese myth since ancient times. The mythical tanuki is reputed to be mischievous and jolly, a master of disguise and shapeshifting, but somewhat gullible and absent-minded.

Tanuki in folklore

The current humorous image of tanuki is thought to have been developed during the Kamakura era. Tom Robbins' recent book "Villa Incognito" has also done much to spread awareness of tanukis, especially in America. The wild tanuki has unusually large testicles, a feature often comically exaggerated in artistic depictions of tanuki. Tanuki may be shown with their testicles flung over their backs like a traveller's pack, or using them as drums. Tanuki are also typically depicted as having large bellies. They may be shown drumming on their bellies instead of their testicles, especially in children's art.

During the Kamakura and Muromachi eras, some stories began to include more frightening, man-eating tanuki. The Otogizoshi story of "Kachi-kachi Yama" features a tanuki that clubs an old lady to death and serves her to her unknowing husband as "old lady soup". Other stories report tanuki as being harmless and productive members of society. Several shrines have stories of past priests who were tanuki in disguise. Shapeshifting tanuki are sometimes believed to be a transformation of the souls of household goods that were used for one hundred years or more.

A popular tale known as Bunbuku chagama is about a tanuki who fooled a monk by transforming into a tea-kettle. Another is about a tanuki who tricked a hunter by disguising his arms as tree boughs, until he spread both arms at the same time and fell off the tree.

[Stargzer note: this last bit was used in the movie Pom Poko. So was the depiction of the raccoons as pot-bellied,]



is also know as the Raccoon Dog (Wikipedia)
The Raccoon Dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides, with "nyct" = Gr. "night," "reutes" = O.L. "wanderer," "procyon" = "raccoon," "oid" = Gr. "resembles") is a member of the canid family although it is often confused with raccoons and badgers. It is the only species in its genus Nyctereutes, and its closest living relative appears to be foxes (which are canids), rather than domestic dogs. The animal is also known under the Japanese name tanuki, タヌキ, where it carries historical and cultural significance.

. . .

Raccoon Dogs are secretive and not very aggressive; they prefer to hide or scream rather than fight. . . . The brain of the tanuki is poorly developed compared to dogs and wolves, and its teeth are small. Its testicles are notably large, which figure into Japanese folklore.
We won't talk about it's brain development in relation to its other, uh, development. :wink:
Regards//Larry

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee

KatyBr
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Postby KatyBr » Fri Feb 03, 2006 2:03 am

The American Indian's trickster is coyote, that is the tribes I'm familiar with say this.

Kt


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