Raccoons have weak eyesight and perceive the world through touch. The pads of their paws are bare, wrinkly black skin, soft and cool. They lay hands everything. Like blind men, they often look away from the thing they're handling. Like monkeys, they can use hands and feet mostly interchangeably (unlike monkeys, though, raccoons are not creepy, sinister shit-flinging homunculi).
If they're near water (and they like to eat near water), raccoons will wash their food before eating it, rolling it between their paws. I'm told this helps the food go down, like a saliva assist, but personally I think raccoons just get off on the way it feels. They obviously love tactile sensations and will feel stuff for the pure joy of feeling stuff. A sugar cube is a cruel treat; the poor little bastard will wash it and wash it and then stare, heartbroken, into his empty paws.
No raccoon can resist this:
They have a burning curiosity for any sort of knothole or crack or pocket. Make a fist, and he'll hook a paw into it. Every time. The kindly human tucks a treasure in bottom.
The unkind one makes it a sugar cube.
