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Answer to reader question
Katy H. asks: “What can you tell me about hive mind mentality in animals? Do bees have this? Do other insects or animals?”
A hive mind refers to the coordinated behavior of social insects, such as bees, ants or termites. The colony acts as if controlled by a single mind for the benefit of the group, rather than for the benefit of an individual. For example, an ant might lay a pheromone trail from a food source to the nest. Other ants will find and follow this trail. These ants also deposit pheromones, and the scent trail becomes stronger. Eventually, the food source is depleted, and the ants stop laying pheromones on the trail. As the scent fades away, fewer and fewer ants follow the trail. This method of communicating is decentralized: Individuals interact through the environment rather than by communicating directly with each other.
You may not see raccoons as often in the winter as you do during other seasons, but they are here. They do not hibernate; if the weather gets cold enough, they enter a state called torpor in which they slow down their heart rate, breathing and metabolism. During this time, raccoons hole up, often in an opening in a hollow tree, and rely on their fat reserves to survive. They can stay in a state of torpor for several weeks. If the weather warms up, the raccoons may search for easily accessible food, such as food in trash barrels or dumpsters.
Raccoons are omnivores. They will eat just about anything, much like humans. During the spring and summer, they eat insects, aquatic critters, mice and other small mammals. In the fall, raccoons change their diet to prepare for winter. As insects and small critters become less available, they eat high-calorie or abundant foods such as seeds, nuts, fruit and berries. They are not above raiding your garden or rummaging through your trash – the behavior that has earned them the nickname “trash panda.”
Raccoons are one of the smartest mammals. Although they have a small brain, they have the neuron density of a primate – as many neurons as a dog, but in a cat-sized brain. This high neuron density contributes to a raccoon’s impressive problem-solving ability. Its intellect gives raccoons an advantage in urban areas, where good problem-solvers can find abundant food.
Raccoons have two characteristics that make them successful: persistence and creativity. They may not give up trying to open a garbage can, for example, and they use novel techniques until they discover something that works. They embody the saying we all learned as youngsters: “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”
Raccoons began moving into urban areas in the 1920s. By the 1950s, they had populated just about every urban city. At one time, Toronto had one of the highest densities of raccoons of any metropolitan area. Even today it is still called the raccoon capital of the world. Raccoons became such a problem in Toronto that in 2016, the city spent $31 million in Canadian dollars to develop raccoon-resistant garbage bins. The bins have a locking mechanism that must be rotated to open (The locks release when the bin is tilted over a trash truck).
Raccoons do not have opposable thumbs, and test raccoons could not open the lock. Toronto thought it had solved its raccoon problem.
Well, lo and behold! Some smart raccoons soon figured out how to rotate and open the locks even without opposable thumbs; other raccoons discovered that if they tipped over the bins, the lock could become disengaged. Raccoons did not teach other raccoons how to open the bins – they each used their persistence and creativity to find a solution that worked for them.
Over the years, Toronto has developed better versions of its raccoon-resistant trash bins that mostly work – but not because raccoons cannot figure out how to open them; because other food sources are easier pickings.
The most important sense for many animals is sight, smell or hearing, but not for raccoons, for which the most important sense is touch. Its front paws are covered in a thick hard layer of skin. When this layer gets wet, it becomes more pliable. About two-thirds of a raccoon’s cerebral cortex is specialized for interpreting tactile impulses. This is more than any other animal scientists have studied!
A raccoon brain has specialized areas for each of its five digits and specialized brain areas for five different parts of its palm. In addition, raccoon forepaws have stiff whiskers at the tip of each toe before the claw. Similar to a cat’s whiskers, these stiff hairs allow raccoons to identify an object before even touching it with the paw.
Because water increases the tactile ability of a raccoon’s paws, raccoons often roll and rub their food in water to help identify it. People have interpreted this behavior as washing food, but really raccoons are feeling the object to determine if it is an edible clam or an inedible stone, an edible worm or an inedible string, an edible crayfish or an inedible piece of plastic.
Raccoons evolved near rivers and lakes. They are adept at using their forepaws to find food underwater or buried in mud. Each raccoon finger is well-padded, so they can keep their hands in cold water for hours. Raccoons also have sharp, nonretractable claws. Because of these claws and ankle joints that rotate 180 degrees, they can climb down trees facing up or down.
Raccoon mating season occurs from January through the end of March – whenever the weather warms up. During this time, male raccoons can be quite noisy, as they fight brutally with other males to establish dominance and secure female attention. Males may screech and females may respond with chirps, whistles or grunts. If you hear screeching or fighting in your yard at night in the coming weeks, it might be hormonal male raccoons searching for the perfect mate.
Have you taken photos of our urban wild things? Send your images to Cambridge Day, and we may use them as part of a future feature. Include the photographer’s name and the general location where the photo was taken.
Jeanine Farley is an educational writer who has lived in the Boston area for more than 30 years. She enjoys taking photos of our urban wild things.
The far left and far right of the background on the feature image to this post (not seen above) was generated digitally and is not real. The rabbit was photographed and is real.
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