Florida raccoons will impress and fascinate you with their intelligence and behavior. They belong in the family of Procyonidae that is comprised of 7 species. With their social behavior, this animal is known to be solitary. Nonetheless, it is only the adult males that will be unsociable. The mother raccoon will tend to move around with their offspring. They will also live together inside the den especially during the fall season.

Raccoons Have a Complex and Multi-Faceted Social Life
The life of the Palm Beach raccoon is known to be intricate. Raccoons are known for their solitary behavior. However, based on the undeniable evidence, there are instances when the animal will choose to move together.

Suburban and Urban Raccoons
Due to the limited space in the residential communities, they will be crowded together. Since the population of the raccoons in the urban and suburban areas is increasing, encounter with the same species is highly likely. They will also interact more frequently when they are hunting foods. A recent study was performed that involves 20 raccoons located at the suburban area of North Chicago. They discovered that the raccoons are more social compared to the raccoons in the wild.

Showing Respect towards the Other Raccoons
It is interesting to note that the raccoons are capable of showing respect towards the other raccoons. The younger raccoons will show respect towards the older raccoon regardless of their gender. Perhaps, this is because the older raccoons tend to have a larger and stockier body frame. Usually, the bigger animal will also be more dominant. This is the basic pattern that has been observed among the animals that are solitary.

Hanging Out With Each Other
Social mammals will gather together to form a coalition. The group will be comprised of close relatives. They will band together in order to defeat a creature that is larger than them. However, this is not a behavior that you will see on raccoon. They will hang out with each other and will often end up in a fight. They will be fighting even with the raccoon that they usually tolerate.

Experts also claimed that these animals will still create coalition with other raccoons. There is not enough information about the preference of this animal when associating themselves with the other raccoon. Nonetheless, the solitary behavior of the raccoon is still their dominant feature but due to the changes in their environment, they will have to associate themselves with the other raccoons.

While Palm beach raccoons are known to be solitary creatures, evolution is teaching them to band together. Perhaps the raccoons of the future will learn the benefits of acting in unison that will help them overpower a larger predator. As of today, the raccoons are still torn between their solitary life in the woods and interacting with each other in the suburban areas. The young raccoon will also choose to stay with their mother in the den for about 10 weeks after their birth. Once they can live on their own, they will move out of their burrow.

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