Such small hands
Monday July 31, 2006 at 5:52 pm
I love watching raccoons eat. It’s the use of their front paws like hands that fascinates me so. Well, that and the simple fact that I just love wildlife and am always intrigued to see them doing their various things in their various ways in their various environments.
This video is of the troublemaker from the 5 raccoons + 2 cats story. It occurs to me only now, after having watched her (and I’m becoming more convinced it’s a her) over the last several weeks, that she lacks a significant fear of humans. It’s that simple. It wasn’t just seeing me feed them or knowing I had more food. With her, it’s more than that. She has consistently been lacking in fear of me since she began visiting. I try not to interact with them outside of standing on the patio watching them when the opportunity presents itself, yet she always shows an interest in me, in what I’m doing, and shows no significant distress at my presence. I can talk, walk, smoke, drink, walk in and out, and she carries on with but a glance at me. No, she came here without fear of us, so I don’t feel so bad thinking I caused that personality trait with a single feeding incident.
I captured this video of her at the very onset of dusk one evening. I stepped outside for a quick smoke and she was right there munching on a few dozen pieces of cat food I’d tossed out of the bowl earlier in the evening. It sat outside all day, so let the wildlife have it. For them, it’s a treat regardless of whatever exposure it has received.
With the camera in hand (I’m getting better at keeping it with me most of the time), I stepped outside with a beer and cigarette. The first thing I noticed was the crunching sound. That drew my eyes to her. I stepped up to the fence and knelt down to get a good view. She glanced at me before returning to her snack. I turned the camera on, placed it against the fence to try and steady it, and proceeded to shoot some video.
She was about three feet (a meter) away from me. You can see how scared of me she is, right? She looks at me a few times. That’s fear, right? Not in her case. And watch when she’s done: she comes closer. I stopped the video thinking she was leaving, but she paused for a moment, and then she came right to the fence where I was kneeling. I backed away. I wished I was still recording.
But that’s not the point. I took this video because I love the way raccoons use their front paws like hands. For that reason, you might want to watch this twice. The first time through, watch her front paws. Don’t take your eyes off of them. See how she feels for tidbits to eat, picks them up, places them in her mouth, and goes back to foraging. Notice the tap-tap-tap tactile approach to dinner. Watching it a second time will let you see more of her and her expressions and actions, but watch her front paws the first time through. Very cool.
[the WMV file is crap; it turned out much worse than the MOV and original AVI, so watch one of those if you want to see better clarity and color and detail, and to hear better sound; Microsoft sucks...]
jason
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