TIL: There's Probably a Raccoon Living on Every City Block in North America | Today I Learned

Every city block probably has a raccoon living on it, and people very rarely see them or even know that they're there. These animals have adapted to urban living in a way that makes them common and present in almost every major urban complex throughout the United States and a lot of Canada.

They're tremendous at adapting; they have manual dexterity almost equivalent to that of a primate. They're intelligent, they're omnivores, and they can eat lots of different foods. These animals live in our buildings, they get on our roofs, and they figured out how to cope with these environments just as well, or better, than they used to do in the wilderness.

They even go into the sewer system to get away from traffic and people, and can move for considerable distances using those tunnels. So, a raccoon wants to live in a city because this is good habitat for them.

The truth is, a whole bunch of different species have begun to use cities because they're adapting, they're figuring it out, and they're moving in. If you walk up Mount St. Helens and you look down into the crater, what you'll see is a baby volcano growing within there.