Why Is The Racoon Described As An Urban Survivor?

As human civilisation has expanded and towns and cities have grown and invaded rural areas, the habitat of many wild animals has been disrupted. Some, like the cheetah have coped very badly with this and have been driven to the point of extinction. Other animals have adapted well and actually thrive in the new urban environment, living alongside humans. In Europe, the fox is the greatest urban survivor, living quite happily in the centre of cities like Glasgow in Scotland.

An urban survivor in the USA is the racoon. Although widely hunted for their pelts, the six species of raccoon are still common all over the continent of North America from southern Canada to northern Argentina. The common raccoon is actually increasing in number in some states because it can easily adapt and modify its living habits and it has no fear of people.

Raccoons are often seen in highly populated areas and they visit large city supermarkets, cleaning up some of the excess food thrown away every day. They are useful in one way because they are an active deterrent for rats, but they carry rabies and are the major carrier of this disease in the south Eastern USA.