One of the
phrases that you most often hear people say is
that “animals are dumb.” While you mostly hear
this in relation to dogs, the fact of the matter
is that human beings are quite arrogant about
other little critters that live around the
globe. We believe that because our intelligence
is to such a high degree that other animals are
simply stupid.
While you’re not going to find a dolphin solving
physics problems or an elephant having a
conversation about the politics of the day,
there are great degrees of intelligence that are
prevalent in many of the animals that you will
find around the globe. The vast majority of them
have a communication system, some of which are
fairly complicated, while others are able to
build entire cultures and societies.
The raccoon is one such example. While you may
just think that this is that cute little animal
that likes to get into messes around your home
the fact of the matter is that these animals are
a lot smarter than you may think. This may make
you wonder how smart raccoons really are?
Where it starts is the fact that they create
their own societies and communities. Just like
human beings would do, these relationships allow
raccoons to be able to set up a rather
complicated strata of hierarchy within the
community, so that each individual raccoon knows
what its role is within the community and how it
can aid in the overall success of that
community. No, there is not a president and his
cabinet, but there is an understanding of who is
the big dog in the community, and how each
raccoon can assist in making sure that that
society survives and flourishes as a group.
Raccoons also have the ability to perform a
series of complicated tasks and to use tools to
be able to do so. Because they possess dexterous
hands which include a thumb, they are able to
use objects around them as tools to be able to
solve problems that they may be having. This
allows them to break open nuts, move objects,
and even defend themselves on occasion.
Learn more:
Do raccoons come out in the rain?
One very sophisticated of emotional response
that a raccoon has is how loyal that they are to
family members. Many animals, after their young
become old enough, simply move on like they
never had babies at all. That is not true of the
raccoon at all. These animals are very
protective of their young, and continue to be so
even after they have grown into adults.
Even other members of their family nucleus gain
great loyalty from the raccoons. This can mean
that brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, and
grandparents all get the same kind of unfettered
loyalty to defend the group even if it means
that the animal is risking his own life to be
able to do so. This is one of the reasons why
you see raccoons traveling together and living
together in such a large groups, so that they
can defend one another and ensure the prosperity
of the entire group.
Read more:
Raccoon
Control,
how
to get rid of raccoons,
Raccoon
Feces,
How
to get raccoons out of the ceiling.
