Raccoons Are Showing Early Signs of Domestication

https://youtu.be/IZBAtd9rty8

Perhaps a combination of adaptableness, small size, prodigious reproduction, and cuteness saved some species from being wiped out whereas other species didn't fare so well once humans arrived and transformed their territory. Adapt to urban encroachment or face extinction.

Those features activates the same areas of our brain that babies' faces activate.

Feeling that something is "cute" is the evolutionary way that our brain is using to make us care of our kids.

It's a side effect, evolution made sure we take care of our offspring.

As humans increasingly de-wild the planet and control all food sources, selective pressure will favour cuteness similarly, until eventually the entire ecosystem consists of nothing but fluffy, doe-eyed creatures.

Larger head-size relative to the body, larger eyes, smaller jaws and noses, longer limbs, etc.

Interesting parallels across species towards less aggression, greater pro-social behavior, more physical traits that shout "trust me, I'm harmless."

Almost like pro-social, intelligent team co-operation is a huge advantage compared to solo predatory behavior.

As crepuscular animals, they are very, very afraid of humans.

This is quickly becoming the norm for experts, unfortunately. I keep seeing more an more people with educational expertise in something that they have zero hands-on or practical experience with.

I remember being at a social event once and chatting with someone who was a business professor at any Ivy League university. Making small talk, I asked him which companies he'd worked at, and he told me that he had gone the academic track and started teaching during and after getting his PhD (in exactly what I don't remember). I remember being stunned that students would pay over $60k a year to learn about business from someone who'd never worked for or started a business.

Domestication, in the way that we see having happened with dogs (and cattle, and chickens) takes a really long time.

We consider cats “domesticated” and yet demonstrably they are not. If they were much bigger, they’d eat us, and if set into wild, nearly all household cats immediately revert to feral.

I owned five ferrets once. Loved them so much, but came to the realization that there are animals that should be pets and animals that maybe shouldn’t (yet). I think we have many, many more generations before raccoons are at the same level as dogs.

It primarily says they can now observe physical changes associated with domestication.

Also, keeping a wild animal as a pet does not domesticate it.

Raccoons while cute, smart, interesting, etc., should not be considered as pets as long as this parasite exists.

I don't understand the language of this quote. What does it mean for an animal to expose people?

(I'll convince you all to get pet rats eventually!!! :))

I like your dogs too, and ain't no way I would disrespect them... Pets are not food sources. But a coon.. . They seem nice enough until they fight over food ... Then they become _ <- insert unfavoroable political party.

Tasty, no.

The biggest challenge is that they basically have hands. He would climb up the kitchen cabinets, grab a box of cereal, open it up and sit there eating out of it like a toddler.

We only had him for a few months before reintroducing him to the woods behind the house. I've wanted a pet raccoon again ever since.