Raccoon Experiment

The raccoon is an interesting animal.  They are mostly nocturnal and solitary.  The raccoon separated from the canine group in the Miocene era.  This era was about 2.5 million years ago.  The question is: Is it possible to accomplish domestication with raccoons?  If the raccoon is compared to the fox, there are some similarities.  They are both solitary animals.  Foxes separated from the dog family about 1.5 million years after the raccoon, which isn't a long time when you speak in evolutionary terms.  Both animals will try to avoid a fight if at all possible.  There gestation and sexual maturity stages are almost the same.  They both give birth to 4-6 pups. 

If the domestication of raccoons experiment got funding, it would proceed much like the fox experiment.  The experiment would begin by picking out a large sample size of raccoons that are the least aggressive.  The scientist would then try to isolate the gene for low adreniline levels.  In each generation, he or she would have to pick out the raccoons that they felt were least aggressive.  Since we know that it is low adreniline levels that cause domestication, the raccoons could also be tested for that through a laboratory.  It is possible that this experiment could get done sooner because of the knowledge Dmitri Belyaev has given us.  Within a fifty year time frame, it is possible that raccoon could be domesticated just like the dog and the fox. 

Why do this experiment?  People have always been interested in exotic animals.  Many put themselves in harms way when they obtain a wild animal because of their lack of knowledge and inexperience with the wild animal.  If a wild animal was domesticated, people would still be able to obtain their exotic pet and not be in harms way.  Raccoons are very easy to obtain.  Some states don't even require you to have a license to own a raccoon.  Many people suffer from bites and scratches from raccoons which are wild animal.  In the future, maybe it can be a companion just like the dog.