One of the lesser-known facts about raccoons is their ability to make more than 50 different sounds. These include purring, whistling, growling, screaming, and even a sound similar to a horse’s whinny.
Although raccoons are often found searching for food in garbage cans and creating nests in abandoned cars and other unsavory locations, the fact is that these animals are actually quite clean.
They have been known to place their food in water to wash it before consuming, and dig latrines in areas where they frequently reside for sanitary waste disposal.
While raccoons are omnivorous creatures that will eat almost anything, they steer clear of tomatoes. However, that’s one of the few foods that doesn’t make the cut; some favorite raccoon treats include cherries, apples, acorns, berries, peaches, watermelons, corn, frogs, fish, insects, rodents, bird eggs, and even roadkill.
Left to their own devices, raccoons rarely live past age five, as they are often killed by automobiles. However, in captivity, raccoons can live for up to 20 years. In fact, President Calvin Coolidge and his wife kept a raccoon as a pet during their time in the White House.
