Spotting a raccoon at night is an experience shared frequently by students at UC Santa Barbara, yet it never gets old. Whether ransacking trash cans or scuffling around the lagoon, these masked mammals are met with various “aww”s, curious stares and gestures of admiration. Raccoons have become a familiar part of UCSB’s nightlife, but what brings them onto our campus?
NATHAN VILLASENOR / DAILY NEXUS
Raccoons are native to North America and were originally forest animals. However, they have since adapted to life in urban areas and even mountainous regions, with the first raccoon sighting in a city being in Cincinnati in the 1920s. They are opportunistic feeders, which means that they take advantage and adapt to available food resources, rather than having strict diets. It is no surprise that they take advantage of human-populated areas, where food is readily accessible. Their characteristic behavior of rummaging through trash has earned them their humorous nickname: “trash pandas.”
Much of raccoons’ success is due to the unique dexterity in their nimble paws, which enables them to obtain food from garbage cans in innovative ways, even being able to open closed lids. The many garbage bins dotted around our campus naturally draw them to these readily available meals – particularly at night, when their nocturnal foraging can go undisturbed.
In addition, UCSB’s lagoon is a major contributing factor to the large population of raccoons. A stroll along the lagoon may lead to the unexpected sight of an entire family of raccoons emerging from the surrounding greenery or next to the water. Raccoons dwelling near the lagoon comes as no surprise, given that the latter part of their scientific name, “lotor,” means “washerman,” a reference to their natural affinity towards water sources. They obtain a large proportion of their food from aquatic habitats, preferring wetter environments over more open, dry areas. As omnivores, raccoons’ diets consist of fruits and nuts, but they are also very fond of aquatic prey such as fish, snails and frogs — abundant species found in the damp and murky environment of UCSB’s lagoon.
While raccoons have discovered human-populated areas abundant in easy sources of food, their nocturnal nature and defensive behaviour suggest that they are uncomfortable around humans, still maintaining their wild nature. During the daytime, raccoons retreat to dens in various locations, including abandoned fox burrows, old buildings or cavity trees, minimising exposure to both predators and people. When in close contact with humans, raccoons have been known to become aggressive and attempts to touch raccoons may end disastrously, as these animals pose serious health risks despite their endearing looks. Although they are most commonly associated with carrying rabies, raccoons can also transmit other types of infectious diseases including raccoon roundworm, parasites which infect the eye and can cause blindness, pneumonic tularemia, a bacterial infection with similar symptoms to pneumonia, and Chagas disease, which can cause eye swelling or skin lesions. Hence, as tempting as it may be, we are much better off admiring these furry beasts from afar.
But these raccoons have more to offer than being an adorable nighttime spectacle and a mess on campus — they contribute substantially to the local environment. Common raccoon behaviors such as digging and foraging for insects provide natural aeration to soil, moderating levels of gas in the soil, which benefits plant life. Their diet of nuts and fruits also means they spread seeds, allowing plant populations to grow. They play a significant role in UCSB’s complex ecosystem with a dual function in the food web as both predators of insects and aquatic organisms and prey for larger animals such as large birds and coyotes.
With an appreciation for their ecological contributions, we can not only co-exist with raccoons on campus but also value their presence as an important part of UCSB’s natural ecosystem.
A version of this article appeared on p.10 of the Apr. 15, 2025 edition of the Daily Nexus.
