How smart are raccoons?

Raccoons are known to be smart. How smart they are, this is the question to ponder over. Generally raccoons are smarter than your dogs and cats at home.



How do you know that raccoons are smart?

• Rather than move away from human populations, raccoons have just learnt the way to get food is to co-exist with humans. So they hide well and come and raid your trash cans.
• The fact that you leave your trash can latches in place doesn’t mean they will not open them. They will meddle with the can over and over until they are able to open the latch.
• The fact that you leave your trash cans upright does not mean they will not topple them and get to the goodies inside.
• Some have learnt how to open entrances to places that have food.
• They are also very persistent. They hardly give up when they know what they are trying to get to.

How did they get so smart?

Having to hustle for food in the urban environments has made them adopt. In fact urban raccoons are smarter than wild raccoons.

It has been observed that raccoons may have a higher IQ than other rodents. According to a recent study, the raccoons studied were able to open 11 out of 13 locks they were given

Also the fact that they have the ability to memorize ensures that they are better able to survive and hide well in environments which other animals may not. This is because they study human habits and remember. Therefore they will take note of the time you leave your trashcans and come for an invasion. They take note of colors and makes of trash cans too.

How can I remove them?

You can use body traps to humanly trap and remove them from your place and relocate them to the woods. However you must get a raccoon friendly trap as some traps are lethal and may even not be legal in your state. The most effective method is exclusion. This is done by modifying the habitat, for instance by cutting trees to a minimum distance off 6 t0 8 feet of your house to avoid jumping on your house, relocating trash cans to inaccessible areas, using material they cannot make holes through and sealing all entrance to your compound or house.

Remove them because

They are destructive, are a nuisance in general and may carry disease.

How smart are raccoons?