Nimble Feet

• The raccoon is the rare tree-climbing animal that can go up or down a tree headfirst or feet first. The raccoon will pivot its hind foot 180 degrees to do this. The word raccoon is a Native American term that translates into "scratches with hands." The raccoon myth that the animal washes all its food with its hand in a stream or pond is false. The raccoon simply needs to examine quite thoroughly everything it eats and will turn it around repeatedly. When near water, it will dip its meal in it to make it softer so it can tear it apart.
  
  

Health Risks

• One of four wild animals considered a major carrier of rabies--along with the bat, fox and skunk--the raccoon still has been the cause of just one documented human death from the disease in the United States. A much more commonly seen health problem linked to raccoons is a type of roundworm that can infect humans through ingestion and/or inhaling the eggs that wind up in raccoon feces. Raccoons carry a bacterial disease called leptospirosis that humans can catch, especially those that encounter raccoons in their line of work.
  
  

Winter Fat

• The raccoon does not hibernate during the winter in its northern territories, but will sleep for long periods during extreme cold weather, says the "National Audubon Society Field Guide to Mammals." The raccoon does not need to eat through the entire season, as it survives off the fat it stores in the late summer and fall. When a winter warm-up occurs, the raccoon will move about and feed if it requires little effort.
  
  

Diet

• The diet of the raccoon includes many small mammals, invertebrates and even birds. The omnivorous raccoon relishes things like grapes, berries and corn and can become an unwelcome pest in gardens and crop fields. Raiding trash cans also leads to conflicts with humans. Raccoons will boldly enter the homes of muskrats and kill the young to eat them, sometimes even taking over the muskrat's abode.
  
  

Raccoon Hunting

• Hunting raccoons is a favorite activity for some people, who utilize dogs to track the animal and put it up a tree, putting it in a position where the hunter can shoot it. However, the raccoon is very clever and sometimes turns the tables on both the dog and hunter. Savvy raccoons will hear a dog and go up a tree, only to come down quickly and retreat to another location. This fools many coonhounds, leaving them at the base literally barking up the wrong tree. Raccoons can also drown coonhounds in deep water when they wind up in such a scenario.