The raccoon is one of Nebraska’s most-recorded wild mammals, 662 records spread across 60 counties. Lancaster, Sarpy, and Douglas counties lead the tally, but the map runs the full width of the state, out to Scotts Bluff, Banner, and Sioux counties in the Panhandle, following water more than forest.
Strung along the rivers of a prairie state
Where unbroken woodland is scarce, raccoons work the creeks and river bottoms, and Nebraska’s record shows it. The Platte River, the Niobrara National Scenic River, and the hardwood bluffs of Indian Cave and Ponca state parks supply what a raccoon needs, water, den sites in hollow trees, and a varied menu. Those famously nimble front paws handle crayfish, frogs, clams, fruit, and corn with equal ease, and farmyards and town edges along the same corridors suit the animal nearly as well as wild bottomland.
Denned through the worst of winter
Raccoons do not hibernate, but severe cold keeps them denned for days at a stretch, living off fat laid down in fall. Nebraska counts stay solid in every month and swell from April through June, when breeding-season movement peaks and females with newborn kits must forage hard.
Status in Nebraska
NatureServe ranks the raccoon S5, Secure, in Nebraska, and the species is native to the state. USGS NAS does not list it as nonindigenous here.
