{"id":347224,"date":"2025-12-15T18:09:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T18:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/347224\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T18:09:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T18:09:09","slug":"could-you-soon-have-a-pet-raccoon-a-new-study-says-maybe-one-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/347224\/","title":{"rendered":"Could you soon have a pet raccoon? A new study says maybe one day"},"content":{"rendered":"

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News<\/a>Toronto & GTA<\/a>Weird<\/a>World<\/a><\/p>\n

The same researchers are going to look at armadillos and opossums next<\/p>\n

Published Dec 14, 2025 \u00a0\u2022\u00a0 Last updated 19\u00a0hours ago \u00a0\u2022\u00a0 2 minute read<\/p>\n

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\"AlreadyThis image made from a video provided by the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office shows a large group of raccoons on a woman’s property in Poulsbo, Wash. (Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office via AP) THE ASSOCIATED PRESSArticle content<\/p>\n

Already comfortable around humans, could raccoons take the next step and become household pets?<\/p>\n

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Trash pandas appear to be adapting anatomically to live alongside humans leading to possible domestication, according to a study, reports discovermagazine.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Researchers at the University of Arkansas<\/a>\u00a0 in Little Rock (UALR) researchers noticed anatomical changes in raccoons<\/a> and wondered if these cute critters \u2014 widely regarded as outdoor pests in Toronto \u2014 could be undergoing a domestication process simply by spending so much time around people.<\/p>\n

Smaller snouts<\/p>\n

The first piece of evidence, according to the study published in Frontiers of Zoology, is urban raccoons<\/a> have smaller snouts compared to their rural counterparts, which is similar to patterns seen in other domesticated species.<\/p>\n

Researchers nearly 20,000 images of racoons from across the U.S. that were provided by citizen scientists and collected through iNaturalist.org.<\/p>\n

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Like dogs which evolved from wolves, urban raccoons displayed shorter snouts than their rural cousins. But\u00a0 the real draw, is the easily accessible garbage in cities.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all about the trash<\/p>\n

\u201cTrash is really the kickstarter,\u201d said senior study author Raffaela Lesch, assistant professor of biology at the UALR, in a news statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWherever humans go, there is trash. Animals love our trash. It\u2019s an easy source of food. All they have to do is endure our presence, not be aggressive, and then they can feast on anything we throw away.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A A raccoon in a trash can. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Researchers say many people think of domestication as a purely human-driven, \u201cunnatural\u201d process but animals can also adapt to people by seeking food and protection from predators.<\/p>\n

Over time, these conditions can lead to traits associated with domestication. In order to survive with humans, animals can appear tamer and less fearful.<\/p>\n

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Floppy ears, smaller skulls<\/p>\n

These theories line up with the Neural Crest Domestication Syndrome (NCDS) hypothesis, which suggests animals undergoing domestication show anatomical changes that begin early in embryonic development such as smaller skulls, floppy ears, pigmentation changes, and curly tails.<\/p>\n

This study was done largely by 16 students under the supervision of their biology professor who wanted them more engaged in her biometry class.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI wanted to teach this class in a way that students would have their own data that they collect and analyze,\u201d said Lesch.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe benefit is that I didn\u2019t have to push students to complete the work. They were intrinsically motivated because they cared.\u201d<\/p>\n

The researchers hope to study other urban mammals next such as armadillos and possums to see if similar domestication patterns are evident.<\/p>\n

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