North American City Raccoons Are Domesticating Themselves

Researchers say North American raccoons who live in cities are beginning to look and act differently from their rural counterparts.

City folks across North America may have noticed that their resident raccoons are looking cuter than usual — and they wouldn’t be wrong.

The same process that saw wolves evolve into domesticated dogs appears to be playing out with America’s favorite “trash pandas,” according to new research from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock . One of the most noticeable signs of domestication is a shorter snout, a feature that was widely observed by researchers when they looked at nearly 20,000 images of raccoons from across the continental United States.

The new study was published in the online journal Frontiers in Zoology .

Human Trash Is A Key Factor