"(PeteCresswell)" wrote in message

There's a documentary movie out called "Raccoon Nation".

I enjoyed it.... and it points out that at least one person studying
raccoons thinks they are evolving intelligence-wise right before our
eyes - as they adapt to city life.

I had that same thought last night about the family of raccoons that has
been living under our shed for as long as we have (30 years!) They
certainly haven't ceded any territory to us and when you watch them work
their very human-like "fingers" you realize that they are evolving. We may
have just evolved first but I suspect we won't be the last.

A while back, I thought someone was sending an ominious message. I found a
package of ground beef on the hood of my car! Turns out it was the raccoon
family raiding the neighbor's garbage. They had thrown out some expired
hamburger and the raccoon stole it but apparently got frightened by
something and dropped it on the way back to the den.

They have chewed through the very heavy plastic of my neighbor's rolling
trash can, gnawing a raccoon sized hole in the area just below the lid.

Going to HF to buy some motion-sensor "stick up" LEDs to put around the can
area to film them. I have a CCTV system so it should be easy to
fast-forward through a night's worth of video to find the spots lit up by
the raccoon tripping the PIR. I never knew how many were back there until
we had a snowstorm and the backyard was criss-crossed with dozens of
pawprint trails - all leading back to the shed. You have to admire how
invisible they are most of the time. Probably the most important of their
many survival skills.

I'll check Netflix for "Raccoon Nation" although I seem to recall seeing it
on Nova or Nature. They have a "Princess Raccoon" and a "Rodney Raccoon"
but not "Raccoon Nation." )-;

--
Bobby G.