In late September, Under The Texas Sky posted something to its Facebook page that, seemingly, could only happen in the Lone Star State. In truth, the post almost seemed like a joke at first, but there’s no punchline, just real facts. A game camera in South Texas captured images of a raccoon actually riding a javelina! Photo credits went to Jeff Davis for sharing with Under The Texas Sky.
Commenters had plenty to say. “I’ve seen this before, except it was a wild hog the raccoon was seemingly riding. Actually, they climb aboard in an effort to reach the corn in the bottom of the feeder. Smart, nonetheless!” said one commenter. “Love it! Would make a good basis for a Texas themed children’s book!” said another. The cooperation between the two species was a common theme many people picked up on. But the humor aspect was also not lost on readers. “This is why I don’t put a trail cam in my back yard. I don’t want to see this. I got pigs. I got racoons. Who knows what shenanigans they’re up to,” a Florida Facebook user posted.
Photo: Facebook/Under The Texas Sky
The post has had 13K reactions, 19K shares, and has been commented on by 4,000 people! According to the National Park Service, the javelina “is found as far south as Argentina and as far north as Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.” They also added that this creature is often “mistaken for pigs, but they are in a different family than pigs.” The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has defined raccoons as “curious, unique, and intelligent creatures. These characteristics help them survive in the wild, but can also make for annoying neighbors…Malnutrition, diseases like rabies, and predation by humans, Coyotes and Bobcats take their toll, but raccoon populations are not in decline in most areas of Texas.”
They further add that these creatures “have excellent night vision and an acute sense of hearing. They are very agile climbers and strong swimmers. They use their nimble fingers to feel stream bottoms for food, to climb trees and to open containers and garbage cans.” This would explain their creative ability to adapt and obviously make a javelina piggy-back them to their final destination, most likely a food source!
