News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Raccoons Are Showing Early Signs of Domestication by alexsngai on Monday November 17, 2025 @02:49PM (#45957461)
I want to see an intelligence-optimized domesticated raccoon breed, like the raccoon equivalent of a border collie
Re:Raccoons Are Showing Early Signs of Domestication by neom on Monday November 17, 2025 @03:01PM (#45957585)
Get a pet rat. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AV9z0c1hjnA

(I'll convince you all to get pet rats eventually!!! :))

Re:Raccoons Are Showing Early Signs of Domestication by pixelpoet on Monday November 17, 2025 @10:41PM (#45961149)
That's a pretty clever rat!
Re:Raccoons Are Showing Early Signs of Domestication by IAmBroom on Tuesday November 18, 2025 @09:36AM (#45966692)
Breed a rat with a furry tail, and you will overcome all resistance. That hairless tail is creepy - and I say that as an admirer of pet rats.
Re:Raccoons Are Showing Early Signs of Domestication by neom on Tuesday November 18, 2025 @09:14PM (#45975089)
Funny thing is a rats tail is covered in hair and is very soft!!! (although they mostly hate their tails touched, very sensitive).
Re:Raccoons Are Showing Early Signs of Domestication by aerostable_slug on Monday November 17, 2025 @02:57PM (#45957555)
Imagine trying to keep an animal like that out of food it's not supposed to have (to include fish tanks). The dang things would probably learn to pick locks with their cute little hands.
Re:Raccoons Are Showing Early Signs of Domestication by BirAdam on Monday November 17, 2025 @09:22PM (#45960693)
This is precisely why I think exceptionally smart animals should never be pets: octopus, corvids, raccoons…
Re:Raccoons Are Showing Early Signs of Domestication by PepperdineG on Tuesday November 18, 2025 @08:03AM (#45965165)
Raccoons are also social animals so they like to maintain good relations. My mom is friends with wild raccoons and they never try and break in even though they know there is food inside. The raccoons try and open the sliding glass door but they don't become home invasion robbers if they don't find food outside and can't get in through the door. What's funny is that her cats like to watch the raccoons for entertainment and will touch paws on glass but if only a screen door separates them the cats get very upset and frighten the raccoons who just want to be friends. Their intelligence seems to help them get along, like there's one raccoon that my mom has named and it comes when called and can understand my mom through the Ring doorbell. It understands that it is her voice but not her presence so will wait like a dog that has taken obedience. The raccoon is disabled having only one eye, so it survives through intelligence like befriending my mom and is the friendliest of all the raccoons.
Re:Raccoons Are Showing Early Signs of Domestication by SideburnsOfDoom on Tuesday November 18, 2025 @04:55AM (#45963218)
Domestication often involves lower intelligence. Particularly for farm animals.

Consider the statement above that tame raccoons need "TONS of engagement from their keepers because they get bored easily". Breeding that out means essentially a less curious, more complacent animal. Cows and sheep that easily figure out how to escape their paddocks are a liability.

Which category do you think is more clever: Wolf and coyote; or pug and chihuahua?

dog breeds considered "clever" often more closely resemble their wild ancestors. And they are often not "easy" breeds to own.