Northern raccoons (Procyon lotor) are mainly nocturnal, so we seldom get to observe their antics outside of their exploits with residential trash cans. But I recently captured an entertaining scene of two young raccoons, called kits, chasing each other up and down a tree in a local tupelo swamp on my game camera. 

Females typically bare between 2 and 5 young, which are born blind and only lightly furred, although even in these first moments their “masks” are already visible. Breeding takes place in early spring and young are born in April or May. The male does not take part in raising the kits. Once born, kits will remain in their den until they are approximately 10 weeks old, subsisting off their mother’s milk alone. Given these time frames, the video below may actually capture one of the first extra-den adventures for these particular kits (10 weeks even from mid-April is late June or early July). Raccoons have a high degree of curiosity and once out of the den, the kits will actively explore their surroundings (both on the ground and up in trees). They also begin consuming solid foods, although their mother will continue to suckle them with decreasing frequency for another month or so. In fact, towards the end of the video, when the mother raccoon raises up on her hind legs to check on something in the distance, you can see two rows of swollen teats on her abdomen – an indication that the kits are not fully weaned yet. The young raccoons will remain with their mother for a total of 6 to 9 months; juveniles may disperse in the fall or may stay with their mother through their first winter.