Procyon lotor

The raccoon, sometimes called the North American, northern or common raccoon to distinguish it from other species of raccoon, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of 40 to 70 cm, and a body weight of 5 to 26 kg. Its grayish coat mostly consists of dense underfur, which insulates it against cold weather. The animal's most distinctive features include its extremely dexterous front paws, its facial mask, and its ringed tail, which are common themes in the mythologies of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas surrounding the species. The raccoon is noted for its intelligence, and studies show that it can remember the solution to tasks for at least three years. It is usually nocturnal and omnivorous, eating about 40% invertebrates, 33% plants, and 27% vertebrates.

Procyon lotor

Rhododendrites · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
raccoonPBDB
Sits inside
ProcyonPBDB
Diet
omnivore, carnivorePBDB, for Procyon
Life habit
scansorialPBDB, for Procyon
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 1.3 million years on record.

The record covers at least 1.4 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 4.7 Mya to 0 Mya.

Pliocene — about 1 of 82 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 67 of 82 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 14 of 82 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.3–4.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.2–4.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.0–3.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.8–3.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.6–3.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.9–2.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.8–2.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.6–2.4 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences2.4–2.3 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences1.9–1.7 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences1.7–1.6 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.2–1.0 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.0–867 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence867 ka–693 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence693 ka–520 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence520 ka–347 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence347 ka–173 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences173 ka–0 Mya — about 65 occurrences1.4 Mya11.7 ka5.2 Mya0 Mya

82 occurrences of Procyon lotor on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

82 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

8 formations

Chapala — 20.30°N, 103.20°WBermont — 27.70°N, 82.50°WFort Thompson — 27.80°N, 82.80°WAmerican Falls Lake Bed E — 42.80°N, 112.90°WSilver Bluff — 32.56°N, 80.29°WShuler — 32.71°N, 96.71°WPinecrest — 27.35°N, 82.37°WBeaumont — 29.66°N, 94.09°W

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The named rock units Procyon lotor has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 74 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Procyon lotor and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Procyon lotor and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,180 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 80 sites for Procyon lotor, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

53 references

Each of the 82 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 41 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Procyon lotor

Credit
Rhododendrites
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Structured light scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Procyon lotor · LACM:rlb:P23 41919

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itProcyon through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Linnaeus 1758)