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Raccoons are showing early signs of domestication

scientificamerican.com

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Re: Raccoons are showing early signs of domestication

#81

Post by underlipton »

cogman10 wrote: post #40
TylerE wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Removing the scent glands of a skunk is considered about as ethical as declawing a cat. It just isn't really done anymore. Maybe 30 years ago...

I don't really understand this. Isn't it about as surgically invasive as getting a pet spayed? Does the scent gland do anything more than just stinking? For a cat, removing the claws literally removes bones from them. It limits their mobility and hurts like hell. (Not that I want a pet skunk. Just curious as to why it's unethical)

>Does the scent gland do anything more than just stinking?

It's part of their communication system. There's no direct corollary in human qualia, but you might say it's akin to permanently destroying your ability to flirt or tell other people that something belongs to you. You would still experience the impulse, but not have the cognitive equipment to do so any longer. Removing scent glands destroys the physiological equipment, of course.

Re: Raccoons are showing early signs of domestication

#82

Post by mrsvanwinkle »

caymanjim wrote: post #66
nunez wrote: post #59

People have been trying to make the house raccoon a thing: https://old.reddit.com/r/raccoons From what I remember spending time on this topic, raccoons need super challenging locks as toys and TONS of engagement from their keepers because they get bored easily and bored raccoons == ultra destructive raccoons. Also, rabies.

They're pretty great pets. We had one for a while when I was a kid. Its mom got run over and we nursed it and raised it for a few months. Instinctively used the same litter box as the cats. Hung out on the couch sitting on my shoulder watching TV. Friendly and playful. Would follow people around and play with toys. The biggest challenge is that they basically have hands. He would climb up the kitchen cabinets, grab a…

best HN story ive read in a while. i want a raccoon that eating tinyfist-fuls of cereal steaight from the box it opened, watching TV

Re: Raccoons are showing early signs of domestication

#83

Post by cosmic_cheese »

Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #24
cinntaile wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think dogs in general are smarter than cats.

Dogs are certainly better at looking intelligent. I think dogs, being a more social animal, are more eager to please, and so are willing to be trained. Cats can vary wildly. One of my cats seems dumb as a box of rocks and haven't even grasped the idea of object permanence. If she's tracking a laser, and I move it around a corner, she can't figure out where it went. She goes from intense staring and tracking to standi…

> Cats can vary wildly. One of my cats seems dumb as a box of rocks and haven't even grasped the idea of object permanence

Similarly I've seen cats have one of two reactions to a mirror: ignoring it entirely or actually using it by e.g. looking me in the eyes and meowing at me through it. While I've not witnessed it personally on the internet there's also tons of videos of cats freaking out and trying to fight the other cat in the mirror.

This supports the idea that the gamut of intelligence in cats is quite wide.

Re: Raccoons are showing early signs of domestication

#84

Post by bitwize »

caymanjim wrote: post #66
nunez wrote: post #59

People have been trying to make the house raccoon a thing: https://old.reddit.com/r/raccoons From what I remember spending time on this topic, raccoons need super challenging locks as toys and TONS of engagement from their keepers because they get bored easily and bored raccoons == ultra destructive raccoons. Also, rabies.

They're pretty great pets. We had one for a while when I was a kid. Its mom got run over and we nursed it and raised it for a few months. Instinctively used the same litter box as the cats. Hung out on the couch sitting on my shoulder watching TV. Friendly and playful. Would follow people around and play with toys. The biggest challenge is that they basically have hands. He would climb up the kitchen cabinets, grab a…

"What do you think we have these wonderfully articulate fingers for? To scratch our asses?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqTt_jDDCio

Re: Raccoons are showing early signs of domestication

#85

Post by aydyn »

shawn_w wrote: post #79
davidw wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there something that makes raccoons different than say cats in terms of rabies?

Cats get vaccinated against rabies. I doubt there's one for racoons.

Uh, the rabies vaccine is the same regardless of species.

Re: Raccoons are showing early signs of domestication

#86

Post by cma »

fracus wrote: post #28
GeekyBear wrote: post #23

Just remember to remain wary of the cute ones. > Raccoons are a rabies reservoir in the eastern United States, extending from Canada to Florida and as far west as the Appalachian Mountain range. Within these areas, 10% of raccoons that expose people or pets have rabies, making them one of the highest rabies-risks in the United States. https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/php/protecting-public-health/inde...

> 10% of raccoons that expose people or pets have rabies I don't understand the language of this quote. What does it mean for an animal to expose people?

It's that it's not 10% of racoons have rabies, but 10% of the ones that expose people to a bite scratch etc. The reason the numbers aren't the same, significantly less than 10% of them have rabies, is mainly that rabies itself can make them more hostile etc., on top of if bitten by a racoon that is more symptomatic seeming you are much more likely to get it checked out.

Re: Raccoons are showing early signs of domestication

#87

Post by tzs »

nunez wrote: post #59

People have been trying to make the house raccoon a thing: https://old.reddit.com/r/raccoons From what I remember spending time on this topic, raccoons need super challenging locks as toys and TONS of engagement from their keepers because they get bored easily and bored raccoons == ultra destructive raccoons. Also, rabies.

Assuming you are starting with a wild raccoon, get one from a population that is not in the eastern parts of the US or Canada and rabies is unlikely.

Here in Washington state for example there have been no documented cases of rabies in any wild raccoon in at least 60 years. Same goes for all other wild terrestrial mammals here.

Re: Raccoons are showing early signs of domestication

#88

Post by riffraff »

caymanjim wrote: post #66
nunez wrote: post #59

People have been trying to make the house raccoon a thing: https://old.reddit.com/r/raccoons From what I remember spending time on this topic, raccoons need super challenging locks as toys and TONS of engagement from their keepers because they get bored easily and bored raccoons == ultra destructive raccoons. Also, rabies.

They're pretty great pets. We had one for a while when I was a kid. Its mom got run over and we nursed it and raised it for a few months. Instinctively used the same litter box as the cats. Hung out on the couch sitting on my shoulder watching TV. Friendly and playful. Would follow people around and play with toys. The biggest challenge is that they basically have hands. He would climb up the kitchen cabinets, grab a…

There's a Japanese anime from the '70s called something like "rascal the racoon", based on an American book, which tells the story of a kid with a pet raccoon.

I've wanted a pet raccoon since I saw this on TV in the '80s, and raccoons aren't even a thing in Europe :(

Re: Raccoons are showing early signs of domestication

#89

Post by what »

shawn_w wrote: post #80
hojomojo wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We treat deer for ticks, etc. A decade ago, I think we would have been smart enough to treat wild raccoons for this parasite, but the time of human domestication is over. In another decade, I expect humans will be marking their territories with feces again.

[flagged]

You know this didn’t actually happen, right?

Re: Raccoons are showing early signs of domestication

#90

Post by EdwardDiego »

caymanjim wrote: post #66
nunez wrote: post #59

People have been trying to make the house raccoon a thing: https://old.reddit.com/r/raccoons From what I remember spending time on this topic, raccoons need super challenging locks as toys and TONS of engagement from their keepers because they get bored easily and bored raccoons == ultra destructive raccoons. Also, rabies.

They're pretty great pets. We had one for a while when I was a kid. Its mom got run over and we nursed it and raised it for a few months. Instinctively used the same litter box as the cats. Hung out on the couch sitting on my shoulder watching TV. Friendly and playful. Would follow people around and play with toys. The biggest challenge is that they basically have hands. He would climb up the kitchen cabinets, grab a…

My wife and I wish our country didn't have such restrictive biosecurity laws, because AWWW THEIR CUTE LITTLE HANDS....

(I mean, there's good reasons my country does have those laws, and I don't _really_ want to have a wild animal as a pet, but I kinda do.)

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