The raccoon (Procyon lotor) is a highly adaptable omnivore, a trait that has allowed it to thrive across a wide range of environments, from natural forests to dense urban centers. This ability to exploit diverse food resources is the primary reason for its success in North America and beyond. As an opportunistic feeder, the raccoon’s diet shifts dramatically based on local availability and seasonal changes, allowing it to maintain energy reserves throughout the year.
The Wild Raccoon Diet
The diet of a raccoon living away from human settlements is tightly linked to the seasonal cycle of its native habitat, demonstrating foraging flexibility. During the spring and summer, the diet emphasizes readily available protein sources such as insects, larvae, and aquatic life found near streams and ponds. Raccoons actively forage for crayfish, frogs, snails, and the eggs of turtles and birds, which provide calories for development and reproduction.
As summer progresses into fall, the raccoon’s menu shifts to maximize calorie intake in preparation for winter. This involves consuming large quantities of high-energy plant matter, particularly acorns, hickory nuts, and walnuts. Fallen fruits and wild berries, such as blackberries and wild grapes, are also consumed to build up necessary fat reserves. During the cold winter months, when food is scarce, raccoons rely heavily on these stored fat reserves and enter periods of torpor, only emerging occasionally to scavenge.
The Urban Raccoon Menu
Raccoons living in cities exhibit a distinct feeding pattern driven by the predictable, concentrated food sources generated by human activity. The primary component of the urban raccoon’s diet is often discarded human refuse, which it accesses by skillfully opening garbage containers and exploiting unsecured compost piles. This scavenging provides a reliable, high-calorie food supply regardless of the season, contrasting sharply with the fluctuating availability of natural forage.
In addition to garbage, urban raccoons frequently consume pet food left outdoors. They also target residential gardens, readily consuming cultivated produce like sweet corn and melons. This shift to an anthropocentric diet often results in urban raccoons being heavier and having higher blood glucose levels compared to their wild counterparts.
Foraging Tactics and Unique Eating Habits
The raccoon’s success as a feeder is tied to its physiological traits and specialized behaviors. Raccoons are primarily nocturnal, allowing them to forage under the cover of darkness and avoid encounters with humans and larger predators. Their sense of touch is exceptionally refined; their front paws contain many more sensory receptors than their feet, effectively allowing them to “see” with their hands.
This manual dexterity enables them to manipulate objects, such as unlatching garbage can lids or peeling back wrappers, with great precision. The well-known behavior of raccoons appearing to “wash” their food is not an act of cleaning, but rather a way to enhance tactile perception. By dousing food items in water and rolling them between their paws, the moisture increases the sensitivity of the nerve endings, helping them better identify and process the object before eating. This action is a natural extension of how they forage for aquatic prey in the wild.