Raccoon
Amazing fact
In very cold, snowy weather, raccoons may sleep for long periods without hibernating.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
In very cold, snowy weather, raccoons may sleep for long periods without hibernating.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Raccoon
- Scientific name
- Procyon lotor
- Japanese name
- アライグマ
- Group
- Land mammals
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Carnivora
- Family
- Procyonidae
- Genus
- Procyon
Where the name “Raccoon” comes from
The scientific name lotor means “the washer”.
San Diego ZooIt lives across a wide area from southern Canada to Central America. It lives in forests near water and is good at climbing trees and swimming.
Its fur is greyish brown, with a black, band-like marking from around the eyes to the cheeks. Its bushy tail has black stripes.
It is an omnivore that eats crayfish, crabs and fish, and even nuts and fruits, insects and birds' eggs.
How the Raccoon lives
It is active at night and seldom active during the day. In water it catches crayfish and frogs with its front paws. It dens in hollow trees, rock crevices and holes in the ground. It is usually solitary, although mothers and young stay together for a time.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity WebSan Diego ZooBasic data
Where the Raccoon has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- アライグマ
- 简体中文
- 浣熊
- 繁體中文
- 浣熊
- 한국어
- 아메리카너구리
- Español
- Mapache común
- Français
- Raton laveur
- Deutsch
- Waschbär
- Português (Brasil)
- Guaxinim
- Italiano
- Procione
- हिन्दी
- रैकून
- العربية
- راكون شائع
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Rakun
- Tiếng Việt
- Gấu mèo Mỹ
- Русский
- Енот-полоскун
- Türkçe
- Rakun
- ไทย
- แรคคูน
- বাংলা
- র্যাকুন
- اردو
- راکون
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- おびひろ動物園 — アライグマChecked: 2026-11-03
- 旭山動物園 — アライグマChecked: 2026-11-03
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Procyon lotorChecked: 2026-11-03
- San Diego Zoo — RaccoonChecked: 2026-11-03
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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