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CarelessHisser t1_ix2grzs wrote

Reply to comment by Dragmire800 in TIL: raccoons are native to North America, having been introduced elsewhere only in the 20th century. by acequark

Apparently they have small colonies throughout the west and quite a few places in the east

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i_worship_amps t1_ix2huox wrote

IIRC Japan had them become extremely invasive because people read a story about a girl that had a pet raccoon, and promptly got one themselves and realized fairly quickly that they don’t make great pets

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zachzsg t1_ix3gun0 wrote

I feel like raccoons could take over basically anywhere that isn’t Antarctica or the middle of a desert. Those mfs are smart as fuck and crafty as hell, studies have shown they’re far smarter than cats and dogs and are more at the level of monkeys.

Growing up I lived in a very rural house, we would lock our doors not because of people, but because the raccoons could open doors. And to go even further, we would leave a key on top of the door. One time we got home and saw a raccoon trying to put the key inside the door. He couldn’t figure out how to get it in, but he was smart enough to recognize that he needed to get the key in the door to open it.

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twobit211 t1_ix3k5fq wrote

>He couldn’t figure out how to get it in, but he was smart enough to recognize that he needed to get the key in the door to open it.

that’s some planet of the apes shit

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zachzsg t1_ix3u4nm wrote

Yeah it was actually crazy. I guess he had watched us using the key before and tried to give it a shot himself. We basically just watched in amazement as he tried to get the key in there lol

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PageTheKenku t1_ix445o4 wrote

I'm not all that surprised, I remember at one point when I was living in Ontario they were sort of at war with raccoons when trying to make a garbage container that prevented raccoons from getting in and was inexpensive enough.

At one point the lid was made more complicated so they wouldn't be able to open it...but this resulted in the material itself being somewhat cheaper, and raccoons would scratch the bottom of the containers until they made a hole to grab stuff out of.

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evil_burrito t1_ix44x3k wrote

I remember doing battle with a raccoon in the middle of the night who had come in through the cat door to have some kitty crunchies.

Ten year old me and a broom against a big fat raccoon. He was completely unimpressed as I tried to shuffleboard him out the door.

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