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 threadAhoDec 1
@benroyce domesticating foxes, I think it was kind of 10th generation... at least they started to have coloration that more like dogs than foxes.
Show threadᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIESDec 1

@aho

that's right. so raccoons should also start coming in strange new colorations as they further domesticate

Show threadAhoDec 2
@benroyce in a way they start to look a bit as a medium size dog, less like a traditional fox and that just when they have changed color, wait till they change size too, then the variations will increase. So what about a pocket sized raccoon 😺
Show threadᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIESDec 2
@aho but i want a pocket sized elephant
Show threadAho
@benroyce 😂 🤣
Dec 2 at 9:04amWeb