Fall Daytime Resting Habits of Raccoons as Determined by Telemetry

The locations of 173 daytime resting sites of seven raccoons (Procyon lotor) in east central Minnesota were studied during September through November 1964. An automatic radio-tracking system was the mam method employed to locate animals, although field checks with a portable receiver also provided data. Persistent field checks apparently disturbed one of the animals. Distributions of resting sites of four of the animals are illustrated, described and analyzed; all individuals generally shifted resting sites from day to day, but each used certain areas more frequently than others. Ground beds in cattail marshes and alder and cedar swamps were used almost exclusively as resting sites. Some individuals shifted resting sites as much as one mile from one day to the next. No apparent patterns or consistencies among individuals were found in the frequency distributions of distances between consecutive resting sites or of activity radii of the sites. Evidence is presented indicating that three individuals using the same general area seemed to maintain a certain minimum distance among the resting sites chosen by each on any given day.