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First, this:

“I am so not built for this — but it’s FUN!”

Yes, I’ve embedded that one before, but the world is a better place for watching it! ❤

…tears herself away from the entrancing video of a raccoon catching snowflakes…

So, why is this post not labeled “Raccoons”?

Folks who live in the drier parts of North America might know of a similar animal: the ringtail.

Then again, they might not — it’s a shy little raccoon relative, but so adorable:

Many call this a ringtail cat or civet cat, but it’s really a caniform, believe it or not!

Rocky Raccoon actually has many relatives, all in the Americas according to Animal Diversity Web.

Scientists missed an opportunity to go with something catchy like Rockettes raccoonistis and went with Procyon lutor instead for the family’s namesake.

Personally, I like the German names, if Wikipedia is correct:

Because of their general build, the Procyonidae are often popularly viewed as smaller cousins of the bear family. This is apparent in their German name, Kleinbären (small bears), including the names of the species: a raccoon is called a Waschbär (washing bear, as it “washes” its food before eating), a coati is a Nasenbär (nose-bear), while a kinkajou is a Honigbär (honey-bear). Dutch follows suit, calling the animals wasbeer, neusbeer and rolstaartbeer (curl-tail bear) respectively…

A look at that Wikipedia page on procyonids shows many family members, past and present.

There won’t be videos on all of them, but let’s see what we can find.

Raccoon

This masked marauder is very popular with video makers. Here are just two:

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IUCN Red List status: Least Concern.

However, while doing this post I learned that a raccoon species on Cozumel Island, off the Yucatan coast, is critically endangered.

Both of the other two red-listed raccoons — South America’s crab-eating raccoon and the ringtail — are Least Concern, just like their North American relative.

Still curious about other members of Rocky’s caniform family?

Then let’s briefly check out —

Coati

According to the San Diego Zoo, “coatimundi” means “lone coati,” referring to solitary males, but all these high-tailers are coati:

Their Red List status varies from Least Concern to Endangered.

Kinkajou

What does a raccoon’s rainforest relative look like?

It’s not at all like Rocky!

The “Golden Drinker” is red-listed as Least Concern.

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Hmmm…from dumpster diving to nectar sipping in the world’s largest fern bar — this is a good place to end the post but don’t stop now, if you’re curious about Procyonidae.

There is plenty more online information available on the family and its members!

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A little lagniappe:

NatGeoWild animal rescues include baby raccoons and a very unlucky member of another caniform family: Mephitidae, the skunk family —

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Featured image: Image by Chuck C. from Pixabay

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