# Natural Predators of the Common Raccoon (Procyon lotor) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 6, 2018, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natural-predators-of-the-common-raccoon-procyon-lotor/817387 "2018-07-06T14:03:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natural-predators-of-the-common-raccoon-procyon-lotor/817387/21 "2018-07-08T01:17:13Z")
> [@Ynnad](#): > > … For the purposes of this list, What is the purpose of the list, exactly? If it’s just for your own use, then you can define predator however you like. But generally it’s an animal that kills and eats other animals for food. A snake that kills an animal and doesn’t eat it is not a predator of that species. More narrowly, predator is usually applied to larger animals that eat vertebrates. Few people would refer to a robin as a predator because it eats earthworms. ---
**Author:** ![Ynnad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4491bb/32.png) [@Ynnad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ynnad)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natural-predators-of-the-common-raccoon-procyon-lotor/817387/22 "2018-07-08T01:22:11Z")
An idle mind is the Devil’s workshop. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natural-predators-of-the-common-raccoon-procyon-lotor/817387/23 "2018-07-08T06:02:54Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > Feral hogs? > [@Ynnad](#): > > … For the purposes of this list, I have established the following criteria: > > 1. Natural predators excludes man, domesticated animals, feral domesticated animals, and invasive species. … I looked a little closer at pigs - actually wild Boar which were introduced from Europe - Does that count as invasive (accidental) vs. introduced? It was the wild boar breeding with escaped domestic pigs that produced things like HOGZILLA:eek: > **[doubtfulnews.com - contact with domain owner | Epik.com](https://doubtfulnews.com/2014/03/north-carolina-man-bags-hogzilla-3/)** > > Contact with an owner of doubtfulnews.com domain name. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natural-predators-of-the-common-raccoon-procyon-lotor/817387/24 "2018-07-08T06:11:34Z")
Better picture not from a dubious site. [![](https://i.imgur.com/rAOfbe9.jpg?1) ](https://i.imgur.com/rAOfbe9.jpg?1) ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natural-predators-of-the-common-raccoon-procyon-lotor/817387/25 "2018-07-08T07:01:39Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > If it’s just for your own use, then you can define predator however you like. But generally it’s an animal that kills and eats other animals for food. And not just in one accidental encounter. Conceivably an animal like the sea otter might have killed and eaten a raccoon in the last 10,000 years, but to call it a “natural predator” of the raccoon is stretching it, if you ask me. What exactly is the use of such a classification? We might as well include crabs, bats and anteaters. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natural-predators-of-the-common-raccoon-procyon-lotor/817387/26 "2018-07-08T07:12:20Z")
I admit freely, I did not read the long list of potential predators. Did the OP include parasites? ---
**Author:** ![Ynnad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4491bb/32.png) [@Ynnad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ynnad)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natural-predators-of-the-common-raccoon-procyon-lotor/817387/27 "2018-07-08T13:54:00Z")
smthsmb: I think I would exclude feral pigs from the list because they are a feral domesticated animal or an invasive species species if descended from the European Wild Boar. I would guess that many feral pigs in North America are descendants of both. Nonetheless, I do know the are ferocious and destructive animals. Beckdawrek: The criteria excludes parasites. Guizot: The 10,000 year time frame was not completely arbitrary. 10,000 years excludes most of the megafauna that disappeared during the most recent mass extinction event in North America. Crabs? Now you’ve got me thinking. What’s the biggest North American crab? ---
**Author:** ![PoppaSan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/poppasan/32/189_2.png) [@PoppaSan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoppaSan)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natural-predators-of-the-common-raccoon-procyon-lotor/817387/28 "2018-07-08T16:48:36Z")
I’m trying to figure out where an Orca was able to get a common raccoon and not one of the island subspecies. Polar Bears maybe. In a life/death battle I’d put money on a snowshoe hare or cottontail taking a raccoon kit at least once in the past epoch. ---
**Author:** ![Ynnad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4491bb/32.png) [@Ynnad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ynnad)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natural-predators-of-the-common-raccoon-procyon-lotor/817387/29 "2018-07-08T16:57:59Z")
Orcas are known to come up on the shore and almost completely out of the water to capture prey. ---
**Author:** ![Ynnad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4491bb/32.png) [@Ynnad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ynnad)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natural-predators-of-the-common-raccoon-procyon-lotor/817387/30 "2018-07-08T16:59:59Z")
But would a snowshoe hare or cottontail eat a raccoon if it killed it? Maybe it would, I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natural-predators-of-the-common-raccoon-procyon-lotor/817387/31 "2018-07-08T17:03:58Z")
Raccoon vs. bobcat [can have a surprising outcome](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC1fDUQ1oUk) (action revs up at about the 1:05 mark in this video). ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natural-predators-of-the-common-raccoon-procyon-lotor/817387/32 "2018-07-08T17:35:49Z")
> [@Ynnad](#): > > But would a snowshoe hare or cottontail eat a raccoon if it killed it? Maybe it would, I don’t know. The line between herbivore and omnivore is a blurry one. Many animals considered herbivorous have been observed eating meat. Often carrion, but not exclusively - I’ve personally seen a mule deer pick two song sparrow chicks from a nest and swallow them. > **[When Herbivores Attack! Plant-Eaters’ Secret Meat Snacks.](https://slate.com/technology/2012/11/deer-eat-meat-herbivores-and-carnivores-are-not-so-clearly-divided.html)** > > I stood in front of a smoking grill at a campground in Florida with a pair of raw T-bone steaks. As I dropped them onto the grill, I had that eerie... ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natural-predators-of-the-common-raccoon-procyon-lotor/817387/33 "2018-07-08T17:42:16Z")
10,000 years makes it a little hard, too. Some of the megafauna was still around at that point, so there will be a lot of fuzziness around things that went extinct in right about that same timeframe. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natural-predators-of-the-common-raccoon-procyon-lotor/817387.md?page=1)