Science

The counterarguments to that study aren't conclusive, either. Here's a closer, more nuanced look at the study and the counters to it. Notably, raccoon subspecies taxonomy is debated and it is entirely possible that the subspecies evolution we observe is directly driven by a self-domestication process. The shorter-faced subspecies may, in fact, correlate with a stronger presence in urbanized areas.

The criticism of Belyayev's findings is also kind of selective - it has always been known that his fox population came from farm stock, the claim that he worked with wild foxes was simply made up in recent news reports on his study. And his findings are not the only source for a typical set of morphological changes through domestication, theorizing about this goes all the way back to Darwin and is based on observations across most domesticated animal species. Here's a paper on domestication syndrome in general.

Belyayev's foxes were just the first and so far only experimental reproduction of the domestication syndrome hypothesis. They are not 100% conclusive evidence, but no single study with one small population of animals is, whether they are directly from the wild or from ancestors that were bred in a Canadian fur farm for 66 years. That Belyayev could not reproduce his findings with otters was also simply due to the fact that most otters in his experiment did not breed. That does not disprove the fox breeding experiment in any way.

Disclaimer: Serial Experiments Gay is not a "raccoon biologist", whatever that means. She has, however, undergone surgeries that allow her to be legally kept as a pet raccoon in her home state and is an enthusiastic and experienced hobbyist when it comes to domestication and breeding of furry perv[REDACTED FOR VOLCEL REASONS]

This criticism is notable, but there are responses to it. Mostly the issue is that nobody can agree on exactly what "domestication" even means - if raccoons self-domesticate by evolving to look cuter and get food handouts, does that count? What's the difference between that and what cats (allegedly) did? What's the difference between how raccoons live off of human trash and how rats do it?

The raccoon study isn't definitive proof of ongoing domestication, it's a data point in favor of a certain hypothesis of domestication that is still far from settled. It's neat though either way.

I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:

• yewtu.be
• inv.nadeko.net
• yt.artemislena.eu
• piped.video