Mississippi’s raccoon record, 670 strong, is one of the fullest for any mammal in the state atlas. Reports reach from Holly Springs National Forest in the northern hills to the barrier islands of Gulf Islands National Seashore, and Jackson County alone accounts for 112 of them.
A water-minded omnivore
A raccoon is built to make a living along the water’s edge. Its sensitive front paws work crayfish, frogs, fish, and mussels out of the shallows, and it rounds out the menu with insects, fruit, acorns, and whatever a campground offers. That mixed diet carries it comfortably across Mississippi’s whole range of wet places, from the hardwood bottoms along the Natchez Trace Parkway to the marsh edges of Graveline Bay and Pascagoula River coastal reserves. Hollow trees, dense tangles, and culverts all serve as den sites, which is part of why the species turns up in farm country, pine woods, and city parks alike.
No real winter in a mild state
Raccoons do not hibernate. In the northern part of their range they den up through hard cold snaps, but Mississippi winters rarely force that, and activity shows in every month of the year. Counts lift modestly from October into December, when raccoons feed heavily and this year’s young, raised in spring litters of two to five kits, are fully grown and traveling on their own.
Status in Mississippi
NatureServe ranks the raccoon S5, Secure, in Mississippi, and the species is native to the state. USGS NAS does not list it as nonindigenous here, and the IUCN lists it globally as Least Concern.
