A raccoon is not just any ordinary animal that will see a fellow being knocked down by a swinging boulder and still use the same path. They can also remember how to carry out a given technical task for up to three years before they could forget. A raccoon, over time of either learning or observing or both, will learn how to use a rake to get food, or throw stones on the roof top so as they can be given food. All these things that are displayed by raccoons clearly indicate how outstandingly smart and intelligent these animals are. And just like that, it is correct to deduct and say that raccoons use different tools that they are familiar with in their day to day activities. They are tactile animals making it possible for them to handle a variety of tools with ease.



Raccoons are not the only animals that can use tools. There are other animals which also use tools to do one thing or the other in line with surviving. Some of them are as follows;

• The chimpanzees share the same ancestry as human beings and therefore don’t have to be taught to use each and every tool. In fact, they will not only use the tools available but will also invent their own tools. For instance, they can make spears for hunting and it was discovered that they devised a tool kit for foraging ants.
• Hey will drop stones so as to raise the water level up to their reach. Also, they are able to make tools from their own feathers, twigs and leaves. Aren’t crows just smart?
• Who ever thought that they are not just large in size but also have large brains and very intelligent. Well, elephants know how to short circuit power by dropping logs or rocks on electric fences and will put chewed barks in water holes to prevent other animals from drinking.
• Dolphins are adorable sea animals and playful thus you will hear people say they are going to ‘swim with the dolphins’. They are also smart as they will use marine sponges, which they carry with their beaks to stir sand and uncover prey.
• A gorilla will use a walking stick made from a tree branch to feel the depth of a water or swamp and will use the same branches to make strong bridges to help them make across rivers and swamps that are too wide to jump.
• Sea otters will use stones to crack open the hard shells of prey, just like the dolphins which also do the same.

• Macaques in Thailand have been seen to pull out hair from people and use them to clean their mouths.

Read the How to get rid of raccoons page for helpful information and to learn more about Do raccoons use tools?

Do raccoons use tools?