Do All Raccoons Wash Their Food

The fact is however that this is really a myth.

Do all raccoons wash their food. Raccoons have saliva glands and are capable of eating and digesting all kinds of foodstuffs without placing it in water first there are untold numbers of hidden camera videos of raccoons stealing dry dog or cat kibble in the middle of the night and downing it quite happily without any water they just seem to prefer and enjoy washing their food first. Their hands have many more touch receptors than ours and they use their hands both as tools and as sense organs. Because of the fact that raccoons use their front paws to be able to grasp and use tools it has developed the idea that a raccoon will dunk its food into water rolling it around before it decides to eat it. Research has shown that captive raccoons do douse their food if water is made available to them but raccoons in the wild douse or don t douse depending on where their food is located and its proximity to water.

However when you see raccoons washing their food you ll know why they do it. Food that does not come from the water is often rubbed between their fingers or rolled on the ground. In the wild raccoons are constantly dabbling in water and searching in nooks and crannies and in the captivity this behavior finds an outlet in food washing. Because of the fact that raccoons use their front paws to be able to grasp and use tools it has developed the idea that a raccoon will dunk its food into the water rolling it around before it decides to eat it.

These animals do not wash food at all but it is there unusual abilities that have generated this belief. And it seems they like to dunk regardless of whether their food is clean dirty wet or dry. These animals do not wash food at all but it is there unusual abilities that have generated this belief. In the wild a raccoon often gets its food from water using its hands as a way to see under the water.

Despite popular belief that says otherwise they do not wash their food before eating it. Scientists speculated in the past that raccoons suffered from chronic dry mouth or a shortage of salivary glands but studies disproved those theories. It is believed that out of this ability that the idea that a raccoon is washing his food developed. The short answer is no.

In fact their scientific name procyon lotor literally means washing bear. The myth that raccoons do wash their food continues because raccoons are still seen dunking their food into water in the wild. This behavior is not really washing and food preparation but an outlet for a raccoon s constant need to use their hand to sense the world and look for food. People often think that they are washing their food but that is not the reason for the habit.

One of the most puzzling things raccoons do with their nimble paws makes them seem like germophobes. The longer and more interesting answer is raccoons spend a lot of time around water where they search for food by probing the nooks and crannies among the pebbles and.