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Do Racoons Have Different Markings for Male and Females?

The raccoon, Procyon lotor, is one of the most adaptable of North American mammals, able to live in urban and rural areas. Good luck if you try to tell a male and female raccoon apart by just their markings alone. No differences exist between the sexes concerning the markings raccoons display; from their heads to their tails, the males and females look alike. Other ways, requiring much more extensive observations, are necessary to distinguish the boy from the girl raccoons.

Outstanding Markings
- Starting with the tail, both male and female raccoons feature between four and six alternating brownish-black or gray-black rings. The fur is grayish to brown, with the head possessing a black area about both eyes that give the mammal the appearance of wearing a mask. Outlined in white fur, the mask is the trademark look of both male and female raccoons. White fur occurs around the mouth area as well.
Size Difference
- Size is one way to discriminate between a female raccoon and its male counterpart. On average, raccoons are between 24 and 37 inches long, with as much as 16 inches of that length comprised by the animal's tail. Weights of adults vary between 14 and 48 pounds. However, the female raccoon is typically between 10 and 30 percent smaller than the male is, according to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
Mating Raccoons
- The males play no part in raising the young. Once the male mates with a female, it may remain with her for about a week, notes the "National Audubon Society Field Guide to Mammals." After that time, it ventures out to seek another female to mate with, leaving the pregnant female to fend for itself. The female becomes sluggish during the 2 months it is pregnant. You may encounter one spending much of the time lounging in a nest of leaves in hollow trees, rocky crevices, abandoned woodchuck dens or other protected places.
Mother and Young
- If you find an adult raccoon with young ones, it will be a female. The mother nurses the babies for as many as 70 days before they can move about. Initially, the mother may carry the young ones by the scruffs of their necks, but soon they follow her about in search of food. If any predator threatens the young, a mother defends them with her life. Some of the young remain with the mother raccoon for as long as a year before they strike out on their own.

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