Do Raccoons Always Wash Their Food

The short answer is no.

Do raccoons always wash their food. People often think that they are washing their food but that is not the reason for the habit. Scientists speculated in the past that raccoons suffered from chronic dry mouth or a shortage of salivary glands but studies disproved those theories. Raccoons in the wild can be seen rubbing their hands together even when they are not holding anything. Raccoons usually wet their food before eating it.

You like me have probably always heard about how raccoons like to wash off their meal before they dine. It s more accurate to call it a moistening and no one is really sure why they do it. The truth is that raccoons in the wild do not really wash their food in any way that we as humans think of washing. The myth might have originated by watching raccoons in captivity who will often dip their food in water before eating it.

No while they are usually more active at night many will venture out during the day particularly females foraging for food who may have a litter of babies back in the den. These animals do not wash food at all but it is there unusual abilities that have generated this belief. 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. Many of us learned as young schoolchildren about the raccoon s habit of washing his food.

But after noticing that raccoons in captivity go through the same motions with. They constantly forage in the water and will often roll food items in their hands but they are actually looking for food and working to get it into their mouth with much less concern about how clean it may be. They do this not to wash it off but to better figure out what it is with the many sense receptors in their hands. 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.

It seems like a really cool thing to do but the truth is that raccoons don t actually wash food. But respect the fact that they re a wild animal and could be rabid.