A Bit About Raccoons
Raccoons are extremely intelligent mammals of a rather large size. They have either grey or brown fur, with thick bushy tails and dark eyes. Raccoons can also move quickly, and enjoy climbing trees and swimming in lakes. They are very active at night, and can run approximately 15 miles per hour. Their nocturnal lifestyles help to differentiate their niches, along with the fact that they have great senses of hearing. This allows raccoons to find prey where other species competing for the same food may not. Raccoons live about ten years on average, and are great with their fingers. Their small paws allow raccoons to open food and pick things apart.
NutritionRaccoons are secondary consumers or heterotrophs.
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Carrying Capacity
The carrying capacity of raccoons in The Everglades is aproxamitely 0.5 to 3.2 per square km. One of the largest limiting factors that maintains raccoon populations is larger predators. American Alligators and coyotes prey on raccoons, causing distribution between raccoon populations. The second species that has begun to control raccoon populations is The Burmese Python. "A study released in 2011 linked a 99-plus percent decrease in the frequency of raccoons observed in Everglades National Park since 2003 to the rise of invasive species, specifically Burmese pythons.” Another one of the limiting factors is food supply, which is density dependent. Unfortunately, Burmese Pythons eat many of the raccoons' natural marine prey like fish and frogs. This limits the food supply available to the raccoons, creating competition and causing a decline in raccoon populations. Burmese Pythons are actually impacting the Raccoon’s entire food chain. Raccoons feed on turtle eggs, which maintains turtle populations. With such a sharp decline in raccoon populations, the turtle population is predicted to skyrocket in the next 20 years. This would shift the balance of the food chain, as well as the predators of the raccoons such as coyotes. Lastly, raccoon decreases will soon prevent natural biodiversity since they spread seeds, and could cause many plants to become threatened.