Raccoons were caught from May 1980 through December 1984 on a trapping
grid of 30 to 35 stations (one or two "live traps" per station) that
covered about one-third of the National Zoological Park's Conservation
and Research Center (CRC) near Front Royal, Virginia (Seidensticker et
al., 1988; Hallett et al., 1991). Animals were trapped during 10
consecutive days each month, and in this five-year interval 407
raccoons were captured and marked with tattoos and ear tags. All
captured animals were individualized with respect to age, reproductive
status, physical condition, parasite load, and mass and body
dimensions. These data characterized the structure and dynamics of the
raccoon population at CRC and provided information on the annual
cycle of fattening for raccoons in north central Virginia.
Animals used for metabolic measurements were captured at CRC about
1.5 km south of the trapping grid and thus were genetically
representative of the area. Six males were captured and measured during
the summer of 1983. These animals were kept isolated for a week before
being measured and were released later that summer at the site of their
capture. The other seven animals used in our study were from the
collection of the National Zoological Park and all of them had their
origins at CRC.