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Human trash is 'kick-starting' the domestication of city-dwelling raccoons, study suggests
(www.livescience.com)
this post was submitted on 04 Jan 2026
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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.