Raccoons are evolving to be as cute and cuddly as pets — and they want inside your homes

A new study published in the journal Frontiers in Zoology found that city-dwelling raccoons are showing early signs of domestication — and becoming increasingly adorable to humans.

“I wanted to know if living in a city environment would kickstart domestication processes in animals that are currently not domesticated,” study co-author Raffaela Lesch, a zoologist at the University of Arkansas Little Rock, said in a statement.

According to Lesch, the physical signs a species is becoming domesticated often include shorter snouts, floppy ears, white spots and a reduced fear response towards humans — traits that are common among household pets, such as dogs.

Researchers analyzed photos uploaded to iNaturalist, a citizen-science reporting app for smartphones. They discovered that raccoons in urban environments have shorter snouts than those in rural regions, which could be one of the several traits that make up “domestication syndrome.”

Domestication begins when animals start adapting to new environments created by humans — which, for so-called “trash pandas,” would be digging around in dumpsters for a meal.

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