Racoons are small Mammals having a body length of 40 to 70 cm (16 to 28 in) and a body weight of 3.5 to 9 kg (8 to 20 lb). The racoons most obvious features are the striped tail, extremely dexterous paws and facial mask which are themes in many native american tribes, including 'having natural spirit powers, due to the mask' and 'playing the trickster, outsmarting wolves and coyotes'. Racoons are also incredibly intelligent, being able to remember the solution to a task for up to three years and in studies were able to open 11 of 13 complex locks in under 10 tries, They are great adapters, usually residing in deciduous and mixed forests, they have also been known to live in mountainous areas and coastal marshes, and most commonly known scavenge in human populated urban areas. Although they live in north america, due to escapes and deliberate introductions they now live in areas across Europe, Japan, Caucasus area and there have been sightings in Australia.
Thought to be solitary, they also have gender-specific social behaviour, related females share and area, whilst non-related males can live in groups of up to four males to maintain their position against other males. In captivity they have been known to live to up to 20 years, yet in the wild only last to 1.8 - 3.1 years old.
Racoons have an incredible sense of touch, they are able to distinguish whole objects without touching them due to their whiskers, studies have shown that they can distinguish an opaque box with 2 or 4 grapes from one containing 3. With their broad auditory range they can can hear earthworms underground. 'Almost two-thirds of the area responsible for sensory projection in the raccoon's cerebral cortex is specialised for the interpretation of tactile impulses, more than in any other studied animal.' meaning they have quick thinking and a very fast reaction time.
So far I think the features such as tricksy, masked, intelligent with breaking locks, escapes, quick thinking with fast reaction times, scavengers, and males living in 'gangs' all points to the description of a western bandit, but the native american tales of a masked animal with natural 'super-powers' and fending for themselves only to survive points to a more heroic, Robin-Hood / Lone Ranger / Zorro figure.
I have created a mood board below to influence my research and character design.
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