The clever, adaptable urban raccoon may be evolving a shorter snout — a key physical trait of pets and other domesticated animals. The new finding describes what a biologist says could be the first account of domestication in its earliest stages.For Raffaela Lesch, an assistant professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, inspiration struck while she was walking around the campus. She had tossed a can into a waste bin, and it landed with a thud instead of a clang. Soon, Lesch realized why, as a raccoon — aka a “trash panda” — popped its head out of the garbage.Lesch reflected on how prevalent and comfortable raccoons can be in urban environments — even in the middle of the day — and it sparked her curiosity: Could she be witnessing the early stages of the same process that led to the domestication of dogs thousands of years ago?AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“That was the first moment where I started to wonder if we might have a difference in rural and urban populations, where urban populations have been put on this trajectory towards domestication,” Lesch said.It’s only fitting that trash was involved in her epiphany. Fossil records suggest that wolves started hanging around humans as many as 30,000 years ago, scavenging for waste and leftover food. Over a period of thousands of years, all around the globe, adaptations in wolves’ behaviors and physical features made them suitable for cohabitation with people. That is, in a word, domestication.“Trash is really the kickstarter. Wherever humans go, there is trash. Animals love our trash,” Lesch said in a statement. “All they have to do is endure our presence, not be aggressive, and then they can feast on anything …
