A Natural History of Raccoons

by Dorcas MacClintock

Originally published in 1981, A Natural History of Raccoons is a thorough study of the characteristics and habits of one of the most fascinating creatures among our country's wildlife. Topics covered include: behavioral characteristics (curiosity, raccoons in motion, winter denning); feeding habits, controlling their numbers (disease, parasites and predators); mating, and cubs; and habitat requirements. The book includes a chapter on caring for raccoons, which will be especially helpful for those who - like the author - have been called upon to nurture orphaned raccoon cubs. Raccoons are ecologic opportunists of the first order, living in forest, marsh and coastal environments, and forever exploring new habitats in suburb and city. Many people who have only occasionally glimpsed these predominantly nocturnal creatures will welcome this opportunity to become more familiar with them. Dorcas MacClintock is a mammalogist who is currently a Research Associate at the California Academy of Sciences and a Curatorial Affiliate at Yale Peabody Museum. She is on familiar terms with raccoons, having reared a number of orphaned cubs. J. Sharkey Thomas's sensitive interpretations of wildlife are familiar to animal lovers throughout North America. Two solo exhibitions of her art in New York City have established a widening circle of collectors. "Delightful, painstakingly researched work that introduces the reader to just about every aspect of the structure, habits and life history of the raccoon. Packed with information. While the treatment is thoroughly scientific, the brisk writing style makes for easy, enjoyable reading. Illustrated with many truly exquisite sketches. A fine book." The Conservationist "MacClintock supplies here just about everything you could think to ask about raccoons. Thoroughly informative and smoothly integrated." Kirkus Reviews "A sprightly and detailed study of the appealing animal. The many drawings here are striking." Booklist "Informative and charmingly illustrated." Country Journal

Genres: Biology, Nature, Nonfiction, Natural History, Science, Animals

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[Octavia Cade · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Octavia, why are you reading a book about raccoons?" I don't know, I just am. It's notable that after reading it, I had to check how to spell "raccoon" when writing the previous sentence, so that's not much of an argument for anything sinking in, but I enjoyed it anyway.

We don't have raccoons in New Zealand. I've never seen one in the flesh. Honestly, I just came across this book in a list of nature books and the library had it so I thought why not. And it's quite an enjoyable read, though a bit dense in places. It's sort of a monograph on raccoons, and while it's interspersed with anecdotes about raccoons the author has known, it's mostly things like their skeletal structure and life cycle and evolutionary relationships, that sort of thing. Solid and well supported science, written more for laypeople than academics, although a lot of academic work is referenced. The real strength of the piece, however, lies in the illustrations. They're black and white pen and ink drawings, but there are lots of them and they are all gorgeous. All credit to the illustrator, Janet Sharkey Thomas, she has done a fantastic job.

[Chance · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative and worth the read. Some of the stories within are quite hilarious. I do believe the only dated piece of this book is that back in the 1980’s they did not believe raccoons to be so closely related to bears. Otherwise, this book has held up well and is a wonderful addition to your collection if you want to know more about those beautiful angels we know as trash-bandits or raccoons.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very engaging, well written, well organized, and well illustrated. I was a little surprised that Sterling North's novel, Rascal, was cited so often, but since it is autobiographical, I guess it is a decent source for information about raccoon habits. Slightly out-of-date but still immensely relevant.

[Mary Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting, informative, and gorgeously illustrated. The author does rescue work as well as being a PhD mammalogist.

[Fazzz14 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This lovely book is clearly not an high budget production, but it is easily the best, the most informative and complete book about Raccoons.
It's always like that with too common animals that live near us: it's impossible to find a real biology text about them. You can dig deep into any archive, but you'll only find small children\kids books. And that's probably what motivated the author (Dorcas MacClintock), a mammalogist and Raccoon lover, to write this one: she did a wonderful job in collecting all information available about these creatures, from the scientific analysis of their physical structure to their social behavior, and put them in a single text, along with her direct experience considerations; all written in a friendly, involved, sensitive style.

The book is also so well organized (physique and motion, senses, curiosity, social life, typical behavior, mating, cubs..) that makes it incredibly easy to search for and find a specific information. It is basically a Raccoon Encyclopedia, written by a Raccoon enthusiast.

The only flaw of this book is the absence of natural photographs. In terms of pictures though, there a lot of beautiful realistic pencil drawings (pictures showing details of the animal, behavior, and even wonderful naturalistic pictures of Raccoons in the wild), that give the book an ineffable sense of warmth.

So, as a biology book it may suffer the absence of live photographs, but as a text about Raccoons is a pure 5\5.