# Do Raccoons Have Hands? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 21, 2021, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-raccoons-have-hands/931037 "2021-01-21T01:04:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![thdudescar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thdudescar/32/4638_2.png) [@thdudescar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thdudescar)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-raccoons-have-hands/931037/21 "2021-01-22T22:09:59Z")
We keep keep our dog food outside in 20" x 20" container that has a round screw on lid. One night I watched a racoon unscrew the lid and take it off and proceed to gorge on dog food… I was pretty impressed. We always know they’ve been there if the dog’s water is brown from them washing the food. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-raccoons-have-hands/931037/22 "2021-01-23T01:36:26Z")
I have a tentative proposal for a definition: if an animal uses its fore-paws to hold food to its mouth, then those are “hands.” Raccoons, mice, koala, pandas, all the apes and monkeys… Um… Bats? Do bats do this? Are there any really significant exceptions to this rule? (“Did I err?”) ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-raccoons-have-hands/931037/23 "2021-01-23T01:44:18Z")
Squirrels and chipmunks do that. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-raccoons-have-hands/931037/24 "2021-01-23T01:53:09Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > Probably not shuffle, though If shuffling cards is a minimum prerequisite to having hands, I don’t have hands. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-raccoons-have-hands/931037/25 "2021-01-23T05:45:11Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > I have a tentative proposal for a definition: if an animal uses its fore-paws to hold food to its mouth, then those are “hands.” Parrots bring food to their mouth with their prehensile hind paws. Does that count? [https://pixfeeds.com/images/birds/parrots/640-1200-485058884-mitred-parakeet.jpg](https://pixfeeds.com/images/birds/parrots/640-1200-485058884-mitred-parakeet.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-raccoons-have-hands/931037/26 "2021-01-23T14:30:07Z")
Animal Farm defined wings as “legs”, because they’re used for locomotion. By that standard, I see no problem defining some bird hindlimbs as “hands”. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-raccoons-have-hands/931037/27 "2021-01-23T19:55:03Z")
re shuffling cards, grin! re squirrels and chipmunks, yeah, they have forepaws that are, well, kinda hand-like. re birds, I did say “forepaws,” so I dunno… I guess that could be kicked back and forth… I thought, later, about octopuses and lobsters, but, again, they aren’t using “forelimbs.” ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-raccoons-have-hands/931037/28 "2021-01-23T23:42:53Z")
I guess we’ve fallen into speculation and opinion, and the factual question has been answered, so if y’all wanna close this puppy, thank you for entertaining the question! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-raccoons-have-hands/931037.md?page=1)