YES YES YES!!!! Maybe she was telling you to get the nursery ready!
The ole girl still gets a little spark in her eye and the men lining up. lol
Heidi Chronicles: Spring Fling 11
Go Heidi, you cougar you!
:-)
LOL! "Go Heidi, you cougar you!
:-)"
How great that she is back! Gosh, she is a cougar! I wonder how many babies she will (can) have at this age.
She's about 10 now isn't she, Cheryl?
Hi Sheri,
Of course, I don't know her exact age, since she was already an adult when I met her. The best I can do is to make educated guesses about her age based on certain observations. I'll need to check, but I believe the Heidi chronicles has been running for some 7yrs now (give or take a yr). She was already a 'seasoned' adult when the story began. By that I mean that she was not a yearling by any means even then. Thus, at an absolute minimum she would have to be no less than the age of the Heidi Chronicles + 2 - and that's an extreme minimum because there is ample evidence that she was really older than 2 at the time.
For starters, when the story began her knowledge and wisdom were well beyond that of a 2yr old. Also, she had 5 kits that year. As we know, yearlings start out with 1 or maybe 2 kits. Two year olds probably have 1-3 on average. Only a seasoned adult in the prime of her child bearing years has 5. Nature seems to allot kits based on the ability of the mom to carry and raise them. New moms, even second year moms, are not entrusted with the lives and futures of 5 kits. Thus to say that Heidi was AT LEAST 2 at the start of the story is to voice an extreme minimum. In reality was surely older than 2.
Again, I need to double check the date on which the story began, but assuming that it has been running for 7yrs now, then Heidi could not possibly be less than 7+2 = 9 years old. That's not her age but rather her absolute minimum age. I had actually seen Heidi one to two years earlier. Some of you may recall the story of her in the backyard one sunny, summer morning around 10AM when she was eating seeds from under the bird feeder - in broad daylight. That was definitely her, and that would make her another year or two older than the Heidi story, since she was an adult at that time and not a yearling.
So, yes, I would say that Heidi must be at least 10 by now, and very likely older still. I had a few other occassions to observe her around my yard in the years leading up to the start of the story and going back to around 2002/2003. When looking at her from certain angles, I can also see that Heidi is quite old. She also looks old in comparison to the other, younger members of the group, and one can see a definite age progression just be going back to view some of the pictures and videos of her over the years. It is surprising that she has lived this long. The avg age for a wild raccoon is something like 6. She must be close to doubling that by now. She had done well, but then she's a very smart lady - and I like to think that we have helped a little by providing her with good nutrition and a steady food supply especially while raising her young.
I love Heidi!
Whew! This is one LONG thread. Clearly, I have been delinquent lately with thread maintenance, and I apologize for that. It's time now, past time even, for us to move to a new thread, a thread to officially open the 2012 season in Heidi Land. I have started the new thread here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1248138/
PLEASE MOVE to the new thread: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1248138/
It has been a joy discussing the Heidi story in particular and raccoons in general with all of you. I hope to see you in the new 2012 thread!
