Cuter and closer: Raccoons may be on their way to becoming America's next pet

A recent scientific study has discovered that urban raccoons are undergoing physical changes similar to early domestication, with measurably shorter snouts compared to their rural counterparts after analyzing nearly 20,000 photographs. Researchers believe this evolutionary shift is driven by the animals' adaptation to living near humans and accessing trash as a reliable food source, which requires them to be bold enough to approach human spaces while remaining non-threatening. The study challenges traditional assumptions about domestication by suggesting the process begins through natural selection when animals become comfortable in human environments, rather than through deliberate human intervention.