Overview
- A peer-reviewed Frontiers in Zoology study reports that urban raccoons have snouts about 3.56 percent shorter than those of rural raccoons.
- The research drew on roughly 20,000 community-science images from iNaturalist and was conducted through a University of Arkansas at Little Rock biometry class with student co-authors.
- Scientists interpret the facial shift as consistent with domestication syndrome and discuss the neural crest hypothesis as a developmental explanation.
- Experts note city raccoons display bolder, less fearful behavior that helps them exploit human food sources such as trash.
- The team plans genetic and stress-hormone follow-ups and to test other urban mammals, while New York City is distributing oral rabies vaccine packets to immunize raccoons.