KANAGAWA, Jul 04 (News On Japan) - In Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture, a family of ducks swimming peacefully at dusk drew the attention of five raccoons emerging from a canal and nearby brush, raising concerns among onlookers about a possible attack—though experts later explained the raccoons were likely more curious than predatory.
"I was on edge," said the person who filmed the scene. "I kept wondering if the ducks were going to be eaten. It really looked like the raccoons were about to wash them."
The duck family kept their distance, clearly wary of the raccoons. Meanwhile, more raccoons appeared. "Five of them came out," the observer recalled. "They were like adorable stuffed animals, just rolling around. But I had a feeling their mother saw the ducks as dinner."
Despite their cuddly appearance, raccoons are opportunistic feeders. But do they actually eat ducks?
"Yes, they do," said Punk Machida, director of the Center for Animal Behavior and Evolution. "But ducks are much faster, so they rarely get caught. Most of the time, raccoons are more curious than hungry. They’re just watching or playing."
The next day, the observer returned to the same spot to check on the ducks’ fate.
"They were safe. All accounted for, right where I saw them before."
But if a raccoon had caught one, would it have tried to wash it—as their Japanese name, araiguma ("washing bear"), suggests?
"They don’t wash prey," Machida explained. "In the wild, they almost never wash anything at all."
Source: FNN
