Mystery Tube-riding raccoon identified

When he's not walking around London, Winston likes teaching himself how to play the piano and Olivia often turns her surroundings into a personal playground

A raccoon photographed riding the Tube has been identified as a "mischievous" 15-week-old called Olivia.

Her animal trainer-owner Kimberly Unger contacted the BBC after spotting Olivia in a news story about unusual pets.

A second raccoon, assumed to be Olivia, spotted being walked on a lead near Oxford Street, was in fact a young male racoon she owns called Winston.

But the undoubted star of her four-strong raccoon troupe is Melanie, who appeared in a TV talent show in 2013.

Melanie loves bicycles

She gets on her bicycle without being prompted whenever it is left in the playroom, her trainer says

Melanie, her eldest, featured in Britain's Got Talent, aged one. She performed a series of actions to music, but failed to charm Simon Cowell, who buzzed her out of the TV show.

"Melanie did ever so well. She was rolling over, playing dead, climbing a ladder, but Simon didn't like the fact she wasn't dancing. Dancing wasn't part of her routine though, so that's not her fault," Miss Unger said.

Melanie has been taught many skills but enjoys nothing more than a cuddle, her owner says

Miss Unger, 35, has revealed Winston - who was photographed on a lead near Oxford Street on Friday - is a fidgety male who is a week younger than Olivia.

She said she had brought Winston to the capital from his home in Kent to help socialise him.

"They are highly intelligent and need a lot of mental and physical stimulation. They get easily bored, that's why it's good to take them out regularly," she said.

Winston caused a stir among shoppers near Oxford Street who spotted him walking on Friday. Commuters spotted his doppelganger Olivia riding the Tube the week before

"London is a great place to take them to get them used to noise, traffic, people and different smells. If you do this from when they are young it doesn't stress them out."

She accepted some people would see her as eccentric but said she hoped to study captive raccoons to measure their intelligence, to help better protect the species.

She agreed with the RSPCA that raccoons were not suitable pets for most people because they demand a lot of attention.

A spokesman for the charity said: "We would strongly discourage anyone from buying or keeping them. Sadly, the needs of raccoons cannot adequately be met within typical household environments."

In the wild in their native North America raccoons have an average lifespan of between one to three years.

Kimberly Unger's raccoon family:

• Melanie is four years old and the babies are 14 and 15 weeks old

• The raccoon babies' favourite food are grapes and watermelon, and they enjoy a breakfast of porridge every morning

• The raccoons make a noise like purring to communicate and love to play with water

• The raccoons have their own social media account; Melanie Raccoon on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube

• Kimberly Unger and her raccoon family have been filmed for a future documentary about their lives