How many animals eat with their paws? Squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons… there are certain animals that eat with their paws, right? Any others to add to the list, or, is it my imagination that squirrels eat with their paws?
How does this action of eating with paws compare/contrast with the monkey/primate families ability to use their hands for various activities?
Raccoons, at least, can do nearly as much with their hands as primates can.
(and why does Firefox’s spellcheck not recognize “raccoons”?)
thanks Chronos 
Chinchillas eat with their forepaws, as do gerbils and hamsters and mice and jerboas and rats. Do *all *rodents eat with their paws? I don’t think so. I don’t think guinea pigs eat with their paws.
My cat will sometimes use her paws to pick up a piece of food and place it onto the floor, and then eat it from the floor. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her eat directly from her paw, though. But she drinks from her paw.
Dogs will use their paws to hold a bone upright on the floor and chew the meat off it. Does that count?
There are a lot animals that can hold down food with their paws while they eat. I assume you are looking at animals like raccoons, squirrels and primates that go a little further and can hold the food in their paws to eat. Koalas and pandas, and other bears can do that. Cats are capable of it, but I don’t recall ever seeing that. Some rodents do it. I think kangaroos could but I don’t know if they do. I think you’ll find a lot of species of mammals that can use their paws to eat. If your definition of ‘paw’ is loose enough you’d have to look at a lot of invertebrates that hold food in their claws, tentacles, and other appendages.
Any examples are welcome… 
We had a cat who picked up her dry food with her toes. The pieces were cross shaped so she had a handle. She also dipped her paw in the water to drink.
Damn weird.
Parrots. Example pic. The Wikipedia page I got that pic from also shows a parakeet eating with its claw.
At least some Otter species do. Pictorial evidence: http://www.alaska-in-pictures.com/sea-otter-eating-fish-13374-pictures.htm
Bears, including the Giant Panda.
Koalas
Most Primates
Some birds of prey, I think.
Seems to be the norm for Australian marsupials. All the dasyurids, macropods and possums I can think of do it. Wombats don’t AFAIK, but the koala does.
I’d say most. They typically “bind to” prey with their talons, kill it with a combination of talon-stabbing and bites to critical areas (e.g. neck), then hold it with talon(s) while pulling it apart with beak.
if that counts, then dogs, elephants and goats also eat with their paws, insofar as they hold it with forelimbs while pulling it apart with mouth.
In fact,using such a standard i can’t think of any vertebrates that don’t eat with their forelimbs.
Whales, dolphins, walrus, etc. Snakes and a variety of lizards. But yeah, unless a vertebrate has very short or non-existent forelimbs they can hold down food to eat.
ETA: Maybe not walruses, pretty big forelimbs close to the head.
Birds of prey are capable of grasping. Elephants and goats, not so much. That was the distinction that semmed relevant to me.
