Tag: Raccoons

Behold three young raccoon kits.

Whenever we see young of The Wild without adult supervision we grow concerned.

Children are a challenge to the best of us. More so in The Wild, me thinks. We have many predators in our woods and we understand evolutionary cycles and principles.

Still…

 
Mother Raccoons we’ve fed all along are watchful of their kits around us. They tell them to stay in the trees until they see Mom interacting with us. She shows them the rules then lets them approach. As I’ve written before, you can almost hear, “He’s a Two-Legger, but he’s okay. Don’t let him touch you, though. You don’t know where his hands have been.”

Enjoy.

 

It isn’t easy raising kids, human or Wild, doesn’t matter. These days, parenting is tough.

Makes me glad Susan and I opted out.

Not so Hyacinthe.

She’s such a good mother. Raised five kits to juvenality on her own.

Okay, we contributed somewhat, good aunt and uncle that we are.

Still, raising five healthy kits with all the predators around…pretty amazing.

So take a moment. Congratulate her. Or appreciate her.

They don’t live long, you know.

Have you ever wondered who says that about us, humans? “They don’t live long, you know.”

Maybe mountains? Oceans? Continents? Rivers? Clouds?

I hope they’re good aunts and uncles to us, don’t you?

And if it’s mountains and oceans and continents and rivers and clouds and icesheets and such, let’s spend some time being good to them.

I mean, we’re suppose to be sentient, right? Might be nice to give a little return for all they’ve given us, don’t you think?

Huh?

 

Naming children.

Do parents ever wonder how their children might turn out if given different names?

The cultures I studied gave people new names often, and always with a reason.

For example, I was given a new name when I entered seminary, then another new name when I studied with a west coast peoples, another name when I studied with plains people, a name when I studied with the Celts, …

And my parents had several names for me, based on my behavior.

Raccoons, we’ve noticed, give their children fascinating names.

We wonder where they get them.

Is there a book of raccoon names?

Probably not. Much of The Wild has similar naming tendencies.

I’m sure there’s a book they all use.

I’d like to see it someday.

If only to learn what my real name is.

 

First off, it’s Chestette, not Chester.

Second, this post’s title is a librage to Le Carre’s Smiley’s People (a good if dated read).

The clan is much shyer than Hyacinthe’s. We’ve come out and found them at odds with each other, which is a shame because we put out quite a bit of food. We now create several piles and place them relatively far apart. The different families still snorf at each other but blows are avoided.

Quite different than years ago when we’d have near twenty raccoons from three or four families merrily munching side-by-side.

But we also know there are more predators out now than in the past.

And one must always be on guard for predators.

At least in The Wild, predation is honest, up front, and direct.

I wish it was that way in the Two-Legged world.

I truly do.