The raccoon, Procyon lotor, is an intelligent and highly adaptable mammal known for its distinctive mask and ringed tail. Raccoons exploit resources provided by cities and suburbs, often seeking shelter in places like attics, chimneys, and under porches. Their ability to thrive in close proximity to human dwellings is directly tied to their remarkable cognitive and territorial instincts. Understanding these instincts is necessary for appreciating why they frequently attempt to return to familiar territory after being removed.
Defining the Raccoon’s Home Range
A raccoon’s home range is the area it habitually uses for foraging, mating, and shelter, and this territory forms the basis of its homing instinct. The size of this range varies significantly based on the availability of resources, with urban environments supporting much smaller territories than rural ones. Raccoons in pristine rural habitats may maintain ranges of several square miles, sometimes exceeding 19 square miles for males in resource-scarce areas.
By contrast, the abundance of concentrated food sources, such as unsecured trash cans and pet food, allows urban raccoons to meet their needs within a fraction of that distance. Home ranges for city-dwelling females are often as small as 0.05 to 0.53 square miles. Within this familiar territory, a raccoon maintains multiple den sites, which can include tree hollows, drainpipes, or human structures like sheds and attics.
The presence of reliable, concentrated food leads to a higher density of raccoons who become intimately familiar with every feature of their small territory. These animals use scent marking and communal latrines to maintain a sense of their area, reinforcing the boundaries of their personal range. This deep familiarity with their surroundings means that even a short distance from a capture point can still be considered ‘home’ to an urban raccoon.
Navigation, Memory, and Homing Capabilities
The ability of a raccoon to find its way back home is rooted in its high intelligence and powerful spatial memory, which allows it to create a detailed cognitive map of its home range. Studies have demonstrated that these animals possess sophisticated problem-solving skills, with the capacity to remember solutions to complex tasks for many months. This level of cognitive function is what allows them to navigate intricate environments like urban sewer systems or a complex network of suburban backyards.
Raccoons rely on a sophisticated array of sensory information to traverse their territory. Their highly developed sense of touch, facilitated by dexterous front paws, is important for exploring and understanding their immediate environment. This tactile exploration, combined with their reliance on olfactory cues, helps them track familiar routes and recognize landmarks within their mental map.
The strength of this homing instinct is remarkable, often leading to successful returns even after being moved considerable distances. Trapping studies have shown that when relocated, raccoons will travel impressive distances in an attempt to get back to their original territory. While a move of only a few miles is often ineffective, with the raccoon returning quickly, documented cases show animals traveling twenty miles or more to reach a known home range. To successfully prevent a return, wildlife experts suggest that a relocation distance of at least ten miles, and sometimes more, is typically required to exceed the boundaries of the animal’s cognitive map.
The Outcomes of Raccoon Relocation
Despite their impressive homing capabilities, relocation often results in a poor outcome for the animal. When a raccoon is moved a great distance, it is released into an unfamiliar area where it must immediately compete with established, resident raccoons. This competition for food, water, and shelter in a new, unknown environment creates immense stress for the translocated animal.
A high rate of mortality exists for relocated raccoons. Studies indicate that more than half of relocated animals do not survive past the first two months following their release. This poor survival rate is due to factors like starvation, dehydration, stress-related illness, or fatal encounters with the resident population.
Furthermore, the practice of relocating raccoons is heavily regulated or prohibited in many jurisdictions, primarily because of the risk of spreading disease. Raccoons are a significant carrier of infectious diseases, including rabies and canine distemper. Moving a raccoon from a known area to a new one risks introducing these pathogens to a healthy population, which can have devastating ecological consequences. Wildlife management professionals recommend exclusion, which involves securing all potential entry points and food sources on a property, allowing the animal to remain in its home range without causing conflict.