ᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIESDec 1

The trash panda is being domesticated

What?

Urban #raccoons have shorter snout length than rural raccoons

This is due to #neoteny: the retention of juvenile characteristics in adulthood

An aggressive adult #raccoon won't live long near us. So their genes aren't passed on. But the more docile and childlike breed more successfully in cities

Dogs are basically wolf puppies after all

Give it a millennia or two and we'll have raccoons on our sofas

https://phys.org/news/2025-12-city-raccoons-domestication.html

#Evolution #Science

City raccoons showing signs of domestication

That resourceful "trash panda" digging through your garbage may be more than just a nuisance—it could be a living example of evolution in progress.

Show threadSeán Fenian
@benroyce Maybe less than that. A research project in Russia produced domesticated foxes in under thirty years.
Of course, they'd lost the distinctive fox coloration, which somewhat reduces the appeal...
Dec 1 at 9:00pmWeb
Show threadᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIESDec 1

@zakalwe

that's part of the constellation of changes in domestication: patches of white fur and other colorations

so in the future we'll have white colored raccoons on our sofas

Show threadSeán FenianDec 1
@benroyce I find it interesting that the behavioral and coloration changes seem to consistently go hand in hand, at least in canids. One has to wonder why.
Show threadᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIESDec 1

@zakalwe

guessing:

it's all about the route to the easiest/ smallest number of changes in the genes to produce the desired infantilization changes that increase survival

and switching off the genes that control a vast number of other genes that lead to adulthood is that easiest route

so you get this constellation of other genes like facial features, hair coloration, etc along for the ride

Show threadEpistomaiDec 2
@zakalwe @benroyce wild adaptation. I heard polar bears are losing the whitnes because ice melting, they have a challenge to hunt seals and there white fur helped them in ice. No ice, no need for white fur