Presenter: Carly M. Pate
Faculty Mentor: Frances J. White, Andrea R. Eller
Presentation Type: Poster 32
Primary Research Area: Science
Major: Anthropology, General Science
The Common Raccoon (Procyon lotor) is an ecologically flexible mammal that occupies many N. American suburban environments. Their dietary range, dexterous hands, and plastic phenotype allows them to navigate human landscapes. Due to the food availability of human N. American areas, we hypothesize that raccoons will experience increased body size through time. We compiled body masses over a 70 year period, and report results on the use of cranial data to predict body size.
To document body size in Procyon lotor, we include published body masses, museum data (records and new metrics; n=26), whole body measures (n=2), and cranial measures (n=21). Whole body measures were retrieved through museum records, or obtained in necropsy. Cranial measures (n=24) were based on published protocols. We used cranial and external measurements as a proxy for body weight. Of 25 measurements, 36% (n=9) had less than a 20% error (2.47-17.71); four of these measures had an R2 above 0.40. Combining data to chart size over time, we plotted the masses by year collected. Our results show a slight negative slope between log-transformed body weight and time, (m=-0.0023, n=51) between 1940 and 2016; we believe this result is influenced by small sample size. Procyon lotor provides a model for understanding anthropogenic ecologies, and potentially other areas of population and health.