Racoons of Many Colors...

When most people think of a raccoon, they usually picture your average grey coon, with a little black mask and ringed tail, but what most don't realize, is that raccoons surprisingly come in many colors! Yep, it's true!

As in all species there are albinos.  Albino raccoons are pretty common, especially in the breeding world. Lots of people seek these as pets, since they are so "unique" looking.

Raccoons also come in red, or cinnomin. This confuses some people, who believe these to be albino, due to the lighter color, but a true albino has no pigment what so ever. If there is any indication of a mask on a raccoon, then it is not truely an albino coon.

Here's the perfect example of a coon that would be mistaken for an albino, but notice the very light mask across his eyes?

Another neat color that some breeders are going for now, is black raccoons. This gives them a very bear like appearance, which is desirable to some folks.

 

Found this wonderful example on www.bluejaybarrens.blogspot.com.

So obviously there isn't a huge selection of colors to choose from, but if you're considering a raccoon as part of the family, you don't have to just go with a run of the mill coon. Plenty of breeders offer a these very different little ones. Personally I chose a "typical" coon, but down the road I just might consider something a little more bizzare.