Could a real raccoon do...?

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Novil
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Could a real raccoon do...?

Post by Novil »

I have not chosen the raccoon as species for Woo by chance, but because I have been extremely interested in the species for more than three years now. So I guess I could give a little insight if a real raccoon could do what Woo is doing in the strips. Obviously, this list will mostly contain examples of actions which are not possible in reality.

# 1 A sly raccoon: There is a large amount of reports of raccoons “stealing” food or shiny objects. However, raccoons have not yet been observed to use tools like sticks to reach such things like Woo in this strip. (At least I’ve not read anything about it yet.) Instead, they rely on their hypersensitive front paws whose sensitivity is probably unmatched in the whole animal kingdom.

# 9 The moment of dawning comprehension: It should not come as a surprise that raccoons cannot jump 2 m high. In fact, they are quite lousy jumpers. Their whole anatomy is just not meant for jumping. But they can reach a decent speed when running for an animal of their size and they are persistent.

# 12 High-flying dreams A test has shown that raccoons can distinguish 3 and 4, so it’s not far fetched to assume that some raccoons can distinguish 4 and 5 and have a hard time at distinguishing 5 and 6. Only very few studies have been done to find out more about their mental capacities, but it’s known that they have a very good memory and can remember the solution for once learned tasks years later.

# 13 A trip to the forest The distance vision of raccoons is poor and they rather rely on all other senses, especially on their sense of touch and their sense of smell. So it is at least possible that a real raccoon would be impressed by the many exciting smells the forest has to offer.
CampSoup1988
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Re: Could a real raccoon do...?

Post by CampSoup1988 »

Novil wrote: # 1 A sly raccoon: There is a large amount of reports of raccoons “stealing” food or shiny objects. However, raccoons have not yet been observed to use tools like sticks to reach such things like Woo in this strip. (At least I’ve not read anything about it yet.) Instead, they rely on their hypersensitive front paws whose sensitivity is probably unmatched in the whole animal kingdom.
There is a local park that has a good number of coons, especially around the picnic tables of a particular playground. The coons there where known to pick up Pepsi cans from the table and drink out of them like a person. I don't know if they still do that as I haven't been to the park for a number of years (Wow, I cant believe its been that long since go there as it is one of the better parks that are not to far from where I live)
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Rocket_T_Coyote
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Re: Could a real raccoon do...?

Post by Rocket_T_Coyote »

When I had to trap the groundhogs which were burrowing into my employer's levees, I would catch a raccoon by accident from time to time in the live trap. They just could not resist the peanut-butter-on-crackers bait. Invariably, each coon would reach through the cage and pull up the grass all about the trap. I mentioned this to someone who told me that the coons think they can pull themselves out.
I would release the critter unharmed by propping the door open with a block of wood. The raccoon would not exit the trap unless I was looking away. Then it would scamper off. :D
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One of my guests, soon freed after having a snack.
One of my guests, soon freed after having a snack.
Even we must often admit not being capable of stating our course or whereabouts.
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