Sibling Rivalry (Re-post)

(This post originally published in September 2010)

The other day, as I was kayaking around one of my favorite areas, I saw 2 juvenile raccoons at the water’s edge. With no observed provocation, one of the raccoons started biting at the other’s neck. After only a very short time, the other raccoon reciprocated, initiating a brawl between the two. The two then began chittering loudly at each, accompanied by growls and snarls. The action got pretty heavy for a minute or so, until one of the raccoons managed to push the other one off the log they were on. Then, as if nothing happened, one wandered back up into the heavy foliage of the bank, with the other raccoon following. Given all the observed signs, I think these two must have been siblings, and a play session quickly turned into a fight between the two. I caught most of the action, as I quietly sat in the kayak. Unfortunately, as is so often the case, they managed to position themselves with some branches between me and them. And I was not going to try to move the kayak to get a cleaner view; this could have distracted and frightened them away. Here are a couple of decent images I got of the action:


Raccoons fighting

 

Raccoons fighting

 

Raccoons fighting

 

Guess raccoon and human juveniles have something in common … sibling rivalry!

Posted in Mammals, Nature Photography, Photography from a kayak
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