*promote

Self promoting this video and sending it back into the queue for one more try; last queued Sunday, April 19th, 2015 3:15am PDT - promote requested by original submitter Reefie.

For one time, I would wish this was a viral (for waterproof mobile phones, or water-resistant shoes, or something).
I can't imagine that the natural behavior of these animals is 'whatever I find around that is not bolted down or too heavy, I am going to soak it in water and see what happens'.

*Russia

No! Turn the phone off! You FOOL!

Adding video to channels (Russia) - requested by RedSky.

*water

Adding video to channels (Water) - requested by ant.

That is exactly what they do. The water enables them to feel things with more detail. They "wash" all their food and apparently everything else as a way to examine it.

"[This] aspect of raccoon behavior is so well known that it gives the animal part of its scientific name, Procyon lotor; "lotor" is neo-Latin for "washer"."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raccoon#Dousing

*fail

Adding video to channels (Fail) - requested by ant.

But the Wikipedia paragraph you quote speaks only of them washing their food, not every single item they come across.
Maybe those owners have not been feeding it, or maybe it thinks it's an 'Apple' phone (Apple phones aren't waterproof so that makes it easy to identify them even (especially?) if you're a raccoon).

I said they can feel more when dousing. The racoon is simply examining the items.

"Their paws contain highly developed nerves, and the water actually makes their paws more sensitive.

"Dabbling behavior in water is a fixed motor pattern in raccoons. Since only captive raccoons exhibit food-dousing behavior, scientists believe that washing food is simply a substitute for normal dabbling behavior, which has no other outlet in captivity,"

http://www.sungazette.com/page/content.detail/id/564573.html


Feeling things underwater is what they do. Why do you imagine the owners have supplied the racoon with a water bowl full of toys? It is to occupy its attention.

I remember a raccoon at a zoo who was behind just a bars cage and young guy was goading him with his shiny keys. He let me try and the thing that stood out most was the paws were the softest. I've also seen them fight like crazy in a garbage bin so...why is one in a kitchen?

Discussion leads to all of our knowledge of raccoons increasing to 11. I did not know that they are washers. I thought they were trash diggers.