Raccoons are intelligent and adaptable, thriving in diverse environments. One habit that often captures attention is their tendency to manipulate food, frequently near or in water. This action has led to speculation about its purpose.
What Raccoons Do With Their Food
Raccoons exhibit specific actions when interacting with food, especially around water. They use their dexterous front paws, with five long, flexible toes, to grasp and manipulate objects. While holding food, they often dip it into water, rolling and feeling it between their paws in a motion resembling washing. This behavior, sometimes called “dousing” or “dunking,” can last seconds or minutes.
Raccoons perform these actions even without water, though the behavior is more frequent when water is available. This suggests tactile exploration is central to the process.
Are Raccoons Really Washing Their Food?
A common misconception is that raccoons “wash” their food for cleanliness or hygiene. This belief is not supported by science. While the behavior might appear to remove dirt, raccoons are not concerned with sanitation in the human sense. Their digestive systems are adapted to consume a wide variety of foods, even those far from sterile. Their scientific name, Procyon lotor, means “washer,” highlighting how this behavior has long been misinterpreted as cleaning.
The Role of Touch and Sensory Exploration
The true explanation for this behavior lies in the raccoon’s highly developed sense of touch and the unique structure of their front paws. Raccoon paws are highly sensitive, with a high concentration of nerve endings, similar to human fingertips. Almost two-thirds of their brain’s sensory perception area is dedicated to interpreting tactile impulses from their paws. This makes touch their most important sense for exploring their environment, surpassing vision or smell.
Water significantly enhances this tactile perception. The thin horny layer protecting their sensitive paw pads becomes pliable when wet, increasing nerve ending responsiveness. This allows raccoons to “read” objects with greater accuracy, gaining detailed information about texture, shape, and temperature. For a raccoon, wetting their paws is similar to how humans use light to enhance vision, making the world more discernible through touch.
This heightened sense of touch is valuable because raccoons have limited long-distance vision and poor color distinction, though they see well in low-light. Their tactile abilities compensate for these visual limitations, especially when foraging in dark environments or murky water where visibility is low. The “washing” action is essentially sensory exploration, allowing them to better understand what they are about to eat. It also helps soften dry food, making it easier to assess and consume.