Known for bold raids on urban bins, raccoons are becoming more domesticated – so how they look will gradually change
I have kept many pets over the years. Some, like my current canine companion, have been both adoring and adorable, but others have been less successful. I’m thinking of the hamster who scarfed down her babies, the cockerel who karate-kicked the kids and our current cat, who is so aloof that she says “meh” instead of “miaow”.
So it was with interest that I learned that urban raccoons in North America are showing signs of domestication. A study in Frontiers in Zoology suggests that the animals are evolving to be – as the mainstream media puts it – “cuter” and “more pet-like”. Jump ahead three thought bubbles and I’m picturing me, holding paws with my new pet, skipping through the daisies to the tune of Daydream Believer. But could this really be?
Helen Pilcher is a science writer and the author of Bring Back the King: The New Science of De-Extinction
