Automation Gallery
Superstar
They are cute, disgusting, generally passive, extremely adaptable and we all have a ton of them. So many, that Toronto is now the raccoon capital of the world.
Producer and director Susan K. Fleming spent seven months following scientists researching raccoon life in the downtown core.
With high-definition, infrared cameras they studied a family of raccoons and discovered that as much we despise the mess they create, we may be our own worst enemy in the fight against the mammals with the masked eyes.
Fleming’s film, airing on CBC’s The Nature of Things at 8 p.m., Feb. 24, asks whether in an effort to outwit raccoons, we are in fact pushing their brain development and altering their future.
Essentially, the more we try to trick them, the harder they work at overcoming those obstacles.
Although their eyesight is weak, they follow their noses and are incredibly skilled with their hands, which have huge receptors.
That would explain why that “animal proof†compost bin lies open with egg shells strewed all over your driveway on garbage days. These animals could probably out-text a teenager.
They are also much fatter than their country cousins, but what would you expect when they eat our garbage? City life has changed raccoons to the point where the film shows them walking past food as if to say, “No thanks I’m stuffed.â€
Country raccoons have to hunt for frogs and rodents while avoiding predators like foxes and coyotes. Consequently, they live a shorter life than the average three-to-five years enjoyed by city dwellers.
But that sedentary lifestyle and poor diet has led to increases in heart disease and diabetes.
“They like living with us and thanks to the vast amounts of food available, they have become less territorial,†said Fleming.
What effect did the garbage strike two years ago have?
“There was a noticeable increase in population, but that was followed by distemper this past summer,†she explained.
The little weasels probably texted their friends out of town to come for a free buffet.
Much to my surprise, raccoons came to North America from the tropics and sub-tropics. Today, in downtown Toronto, there are up to 150 raccoons per square kilometre, mostly in neighbourhoods, not parks.
If you plan on getting rid of them by destroying their homes, don’t bother. Raccoons usually have 10 to 20 homes. Eat your heart out, Madonna.
Should you catch one and take it up to your cottage to release it into the wild, it probably won’t survive. The same thing will happen if you bring one home.
But why would you? Japan did years ago. Thinking they were cute, they imported 1,500 babies from North America, but their feces and urine started rotting structures so now they are banned.
Because they are nocturnal creatures, most of us are unfamiliar with what they do while we sleep.
Raccoon Nation took their cameras down dark alleys, into buildings and high up trees, where dens are filled with kits, then watched as young raccoons negotiated their way down.
Personally I think they wait until we’re asleep and laugh at us from the trees while they scarf down their compost-bin dinners with those thieving little hands.
http://www.torontosun.com/comment/columnists/ted_woloshyn/2011/02/03/17144261.html
Producer and director Susan K. Fleming spent seven months following scientists researching raccoon life in the downtown core.
With high-definition, infrared cameras they studied a family of raccoons and discovered that as much we despise the mess they create, we may be our own worst enemy in the fight against the mammals with the masked eyes.
Fleming’s film, airing on CBC’s The Nature of Things at 8 p.m., Feb. 24, asks whether in an effort to outwit raccoons, we are in fact pushing their brain development and altering their future.
Essentially, the more we try to trick them, the harder they work at overcoming those obstacles.
Although their eyesight is weak, they follow their noses and are incredibly skilled with their hands, which have huge receptors.
That would explain why that “animal proof†compost bin lies open with egg shells strewed all over your driveway on garbage days. These animals could probably out-text a teenager.
They are also much fatter than their country cousins, but what would you expect when they eat our garbage? City life has changed raccoons to the point where the film shows them walking past food as if to say, “No thanks I’m stuffed.â€
Country raccoons have to hunt for frogs and rodents while avoiding predators like foxes and coyotes. Consequently, they live a shorter life than the average three-to-five years enjoyed by city dwellers.
But that sedentary lifestyle and poor diet has led to increases in heart disease and diabetes.
“They like living with us and thanks to the vast amounts of food available, they have become less territorial,†said Fleming.
What effect did the garbage strike two years ago have?
“There was a noticeable increase in population, but that was followed by distemper this past summer,†she explained.
The little weasels probably texted their friends out of town to come for a free buffet.
Much to my surprise, raccoons came to North America from the tropics and sub-tropics. Today, in downtown Toronto, there are up to 150 raccoons per square kilometre, mostly in neighbourhoods, not parks.
If you plan on getting rid of them by destroying their homes, don’t bother. Raccoons usually have 10 to 20 homes. Eat your heart out, Madonna.
Should you catch one and take it up to your cottage to release it into the wild, it probably won’t survive. The same thing will happen if you bring one home.
But why would you? Japan did years ago. Thinking they were cute, they imported 1,500 babies from North America, but their feces and urine started rotting structures so now they are banned.
Because they are nocturnal creatures, most of us are unfamiliar with what they do while we sleep.
Raccoon Nation took their cameras down dark alleys, into buildings and high up trees, where dens are filled with kits, then watched as young raccoons negotiated their way down.
Personally I think they wait until we’re asleep and laugh at us from the trees while they scarf down their compost-bin dinners with those thieving little hands.
http://www.torontosun.com/comment/columnists/ted_woloshyn/2011/02/03/17144261.html
