Indiana’s 1,510 raccoon records reach 89 of the state’s 92 counties, from the marsh and dune country at Indiana Dunes National Park on Lake Michigan to the wooded ravines of Shades State Park and the southern hills of Hoosier National Forest. Few mammals in the state are this evenly at home everywhere.
Tied to water, comfortable near people
A raccoon’s favorite ground is a wooded stream bottom or wetland edge, where its nimble front paws work the shallows for crayfish, frogs, mussels, and anything else on offer. It is above all a generalist, though, and Marion County’s leading total reflects how well the animal does around Indianapolis, denning in hollow trees, culverts, chimneys, and attics and feeding on whatever a neighborhood provides.
A winter denner, busiest in spring
Raccoons do not truly hibernate, but they hole up in dens through hard cold and can sleep for weeks when snow covers the ground. Indiana reports sink to their lowest from November through February, then climb sharply from April through June as warming nights draw animals out and females begin traveling with their new litters.
Status in Indiana
NatureServe ranks the common raccoon S5, Secure, in Indiana, and the species is native to the state. USGS NAS does not list it as nonindigenous here.
