Raccoons are primarily nocturnal, becoming active after sundown, foraging throughout the night and returning to their dens before sunrise. Sometimes individuals will forego foraging altogether, especially during cold weather. However, contrary to old literature on the subject, raccoons do not hibernate. In wooded areas, dens usually are located in a hollow tree or log. In areas with no suitable trees, raccoons may dig burrows or den in caves, mines, or beneath outbuildings or haystacks. A Raccoon may have several dens located in a variety of situations. Raccoons have a limbering gait, rarely faster than 15 miles per hour. Family groups may live together throughout the year (not just during the nesting season). They are good climbers and swimmers, and they often (but certainly not always) dip food in water before eating.
The Raccoon is omnivorous, feeding on whatever plant or animal food is readily available. In lowland areas the diet emphasizes animals, whereas in upland areas more plants are eaten. the most important animal foods are insects, crayfish, mollusks, and small vertebrates. Favored plant foods are fruits, nuts, and grain. Young raccoons may be preyed upon by Great Horned Owls and Coyotes, but adult Raccoons have few enemies other than man. Although adult Raccoons prefer flight over fight, they are strong and ferocious fighters when cornered and can drive off all but the most determined Coyotes or dogs. Man is the primary source of mortality, resulting from trapping, hunting, and motorized vehicles. More than one million Raccoons are killed each year for their furs or meat. Other important sources of mortality are starvation during times of food shortage and disease. Diseases that afflict Raccoons include encephalitis, canine distemper, leptospirosis, rabies, Chagas' disease, pneumonia, pleurisy, and tularemia.
In Kansas, Raccoons breed from December to June, with a peak in February. Gestation lasts 66-65 days, and from 1 to 7 (usually 3 or 4) young are born are born blind and furred typically in late April or early May. If the female does not conceive during winter, she may breed again between April and June and bear young from late June until mid-August. The kits open their eyes in about twenty days. By eight weeks the young are approximately one-third grown, and they are weaned at 10 to 12 weeks. At this time the kits begin to travel with the female during her nightly forays. Their permanent teeth develop at about 14 weeks. The young either disperse in late autumn or, for litters born late in the year, overwinter with the female in her den and disperse when she breeds the following spring. The young attain sexual maturity in the spring following their birth.
Longevity in the wild rarely exceeds 5 years although there are records of animals older than 12 years. Longevity in captivity may exceed 17 years.