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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

#171

Post by IAmBroom »

NetMageSCW wrote: post #92
markdown wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I remember being stunned that students would pay over $60k a year to learn about business from someone who'd never worked for or started a business. Were you stunned that your parents paid lots of money to put you in front of educators from kindergarten to college? Why would you restrict yourself to learning from one businessman when you can get learn from an educator who has distilled the experiences of hundreds i…

Because they are terrible at distilling experience and teach bad lessons? (MBA, anyone?)

You had bad teachers. That isn't necessarily the rule. (I mean, it might be, but not certainly...)

Re: Raccoons are showing early signs of domestication

#172

Post by IAmBroom »

superultra wrote: post #114
foo-bar-bat wrote: post #12

Raccoons have been living literally inside of houses for centuries. One was kept as a pet in Jamestown Virginia in the 1600s. Another lived in the White House in the 1900s. Surely, not a decade has passed between have there been NO domesticated raccoons in the US? If living near humans changes animals, that started at least 25,000 years ago here in North America. Not recently. My neighbors had a pet raccoon growing u…

I think you’re mistaking slight natural adaption for domestication, and taking domestication for granted. Go into nature and try and train a wild wolf. Good luck! You can’t. Domestication, in the way that we see having happened with dogs (and cattle, and chickens) takes a really long time. We consider cats “domesticated” and yet demonstrably they are not. If they were much bigger, they’d eat us, and if set into wild,…

Ironic choice: ferrets are a wholly domesticated species of weasel, bred for rat hunting. They are domesticated, by any reasonable standard I'm aware of, as are cats.

I'm sorry your experience with cats hasn't been as pleasant, but I assure you they are much more domesticated than chickens - which you seem to have little experience with. Screw eating us - they'll eat each other.

Re: Raccoons are showing early signs of domestication

#173

Post by IAmBroom »

burnt-resistor wrote: post #7

Foxes too, generally. The average temperament tends to include curiosity, playfulness, and wariness but not moral fear of humans. People keep them as household pets so I'd call that domesticable. An experiment to speed up the process of fox domestication was undertaken. [0] Foxes tend to not be like almost all wolves (and many wolfdogs) which are reserved, not prone to social openness, and hard to read like American…

What is "moral fear of humans"?

As crepuscular animals, they are very, very afraid of humans.

Re: Raccoons are showing early signs of domestication

#174

Post by IAmBroom »

nunez wrote: post #63
kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fox urine reeks. You don't want to live anywhere near that.

And I remember reading that they have awful BO naturally

Not usually, AFAIK, but the female's "in heat" scent is supposedly powerful.

Re: Raccoons are showing early signs of domestication

#177

Post by barbazoo »

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 about the smell? I’ve experienced ferrets is why I’m asking.

Re: Raccoons are showing early signs of domestication

#178

Post by IAmBroom »

ForOldHack wrote: post #74
mayhemducks wrote: post #43

but are they edible though? I mean if they were domesticated fully, what would we do with them? I like my dogs thank you, ain't no way I'm having a coon for a pet.

Despite no one actually mentioning the white tr*sh cookbook ... I do not see the point behind raising racoons for food. They do NOT taste like chicken. How do you think your dogs would taste? I like your dogs too, and ain't no way I would disrespect them... Pets are not food sources. But a coon.. . They seem nice enough until they fight over food ... Then they become _ <- insert unfavoroable political party.

> How do you think your dogs would taste?

Weird question. My preconceptions don't overrule my tongue. (And the answer is: hairy. Very hairy.)

Re: Raccoons are showing early signs of domestication

#179

Post by mayhemducks »

ForOldHack wrote: post #74
mayhemducks wrote: post #43

but are they edible though? I mean if they were domesticated fully, what would we do with them? I like my dogs thank you, ain't no way I'm having a coon for a pet.

Despite no one actually mentioning the white tr*sh cookbook ... I do not see the point behind raising racoons for food. They do NOT taste like chicken. How do you think your dogs would taste? I like your dogs too, and ain't no way I would disrespect them... Pets are not food sources. But a coon.. . They seem nice enough until they fight over food ... Then they become _ <- insert unfavoroable political party.

Apparently coons used to be quite a popular delicacy in the south once upon a time. Dogs are predators, which is a very primal reason I could never imagine eating one. I've eaten bear, and it tasted terrible. Come to think of it, every predator tastes terrible. But the racoon is an omnivorous scavenger. I must admin I'm coon curious now. :)
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