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After reading how Raccoons were eating pies, I was curious as to what they are really known for eating.

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Raccoons like humans are omnivores. Raccoons like humans also have teeth designed to grind plants or tear meat. They are excellent problem solvers and are quite adept at manipulating things with their paws and fingers which help make them good at adapting to changing environments.

Opening latches, unlocked doors, and garbage cans are relatively easy tasks for raccoons. They also use their paws and fingers to inspect their food and remove any unwanted pieces before eating it. It is quite common for raccoons to douse their food in water too, but the reason they do that is debatable. Are they washing their food, softening their food, moistening their food to make it easier to swallow, softening their paws in order to better feel their food, or are they simply playing in water? Only the raccoons know for sure.

Raccoons are clever and resourceful animals. They live, eat, and even prosper in diverse environments. They are found in cold climates, warm climates, urban areas, and in the country. What do raccoons eat ? Raccoons eat berries, other fruits, nuts, grains, and vegetables. They also eat insects, eggs, poultry, rats, squirrels, small livestock, birds, fish, snakes, craw fish, worms, frogs, and mollusks. Additionally, raccoons will eat pet food, carrion, and human garbage. Raccoons like to eat many different kinds of food, but what they actually eat often depends on what is available. As expected, the foods available to raccoons in the country are frequently different from the foods available to raccoons in urban areas.

What do raccoons eat in the wild
Raccoons in the wild are skilled at using their paws to catch fish, to steal eggs or hatch lings from bird nests, and to pick fruit. Further, they will raid a vegetable garden, a chicken house, a pet's food bowl, or a garbage can. They will catch rats, squirrels, small livestock, snakes, frogs, chickens, craw fish, worms, and mollusks, but they prefer the slower-moving, easier-to-catch prey. They love berries, acorns, and other tree nuts.
What do raccoons eat in the city
In heavily populated areas, it is more difficult for raccoons to find all of the foods they might normally eat. Birds, bird eggs, rodents, and squirrels are still available in some settings but usually are not as plentiful. Consequently, city raccoons will scavenge dumpsters, garbage cans, and sometimes even road kill. They will pilfer pet food and take fish from decorative or backyard ponds. Occasionally, they become brave enough to approach humans and beg for food too.

The willingness and ability of raccoons to procure, eat, and digest such a varied diet have helped them survive climate extremes and ever-changing environments that would be more challenging to a less versatile species. In captivity, raccoons have lived for more than 20 years, but their life expectancy in the wild is significantly less. Raccoons do have natural predators, but the number of adult raccoon deaths from predication is relatively small. Distemper outbreaks, hunters, and being hit by automobiles account for the majority of adult raccoon deaths in the wild.

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Raccoons like humans are omnivores. Raccoons like humans also have teeth designed to grind plants or tear meat. They are excellent problem solvers and are quite adept at manipulating things with their paws and fingers which help make them good at adapting to changing environments.

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After reading about how there were a lot of alligators in Texas, I wanted to know the areas where they were most populated.

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In the book it talks about how Hernando De Soto's death was a little mysterious. So I decided to read more on it and found this page.

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On the banks of the Mississippi River in present-day Louisiana, Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto dies, ending a three-year journey for gold that took him halfway across what is now the United States. In order that Indians would not learn of his death, and thus disprove de Soto's claims of divinity, his men buried his body in the Mississippi River.

In late May 1539, de Soto landed on the west coast of Florida with 600 troops, servants, and staff, 200 horses, and a pack of bloodhounds. From there, the army set about subduing the natives, seizing any valuables they stumbled upon, and preparing the region for eventual Spanish colonization. Traveling through Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, across the Appalachians, and back to Alabama, de Soto failed to find the gold and silver he desired, but he did seize a valuable collection of pearls at Cofitachequi, in present-day Georgia. Decisive conquest also eluded the Spaniards, as what would become the United States lacked the large, centralized civilizations of Mexico and Peru.

As was the method of Spanish conquest elsewhere in the Americas, de Soto ill-treated and enslaved the natives he encountered. For the most part, the Indian warriors they encountered were intimidated by the Spanish horsemen and kept their distance. In October 1540, however, the tables were turned when a confederation of Indians attacked the Spaniards at the fortified Indian town of Mabila, near present-day Mobile, Alabama. All the Indians were killed, along with 20 of de Soto's men. Several hundred Spaniards were wounded. In addition, the Indian conscripts they had come to depend on to bear their supplies had all fled with baggage.

De Soto could have marched south to reconvene with his ships along the Gulf Coast, but instead he ordered his expedition north-westward in search of America's elusive riches. In May 1541, the army reached and crossed the Mississippi River, probably the first Europeans ever to do so. From there, they traveled through Arkansas and Louisiana, still with few material gains to show for their efforts. Turning back to the Mississippi, de Soto died of a fever on its banks on May 21, 1542.

The Spaniards, now under the command of Luis de Moscoso, traveled west again, crossing into north Texas before returning to the Mississippi. With nearly half of the original expedition dead, the Spaniards built rafts and traveled down the river to the sea, and then made their way down the Texas coast to New Spain, finally reaching Veracruz, Mexico, in late 1543.

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De Soto dies in the American wilderness - May 21, 1542 - HISTORY.com

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On the banks of the Mississippi River in present-day Louisiana, Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto dies, ending a three-year journey for gold that took him halfway across what is now the United States. In order that Indians would not learn of his death, and thus disprove de Soto's claims of divinity, his men buried his body in the Mississippi River.