If you google "raccoon protagonist" you only get four results.
If you google "squirrel protagonist," you get fifty-six results.
Somehow, right up until the moment I did that search, I never fully realized that raccoons are North Americans--unlike squirrels, who live all over the place, exist in various colours, and have varying powers of flight. (My favourites are the momongas. And the Cape ground squirrels are tough little beasts.)
Admittedly, Wikipedia claims that raccoons have been introduced into new habitats in Europe and Asia, with intermittent success. Apparently, raccoons now live in "42 of 47" Japanese prefectures, and quite a few live in Germany.
Japan does naturally have tanukis, or raccoondogs, though. And red pandas--who look kinda like raccoons with makeup on--live throughout east Asia. So it's kind of dim, but not super-shocking, that I failed to figure out the dearth of raccoons abroad until now.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
I dont recall ever seeing a raccoon in Europe. I saw one in Vanier outside my bathroom window, and there were those aggressive fry-seeking raccoons at that pub in Toronto when we met up with Fawcett & co... But squirrels are everywhere. Although, the ones here have little puffs of fur on top of their ears.
ReplyDeleteJeremy saw a whole family of raccoons passing through our backyard once, but they're not as aggressive here as they sometimes are in Toronto. We suspect that it's the skunks who dig little chunks out of the lawn, looking for grubs, but the raccoons are very likely the guys who'll rip open garbage bags at the curb.
ReplyDelete