00:00You might want to pause for this one. Scientists just found out your trash is literally changing
00:04raccoons. Like, evolutionarily changing. New research looked at 20,000 photos of raccoons
00:10across the US, and scientists found that city raccoons are starting to look different from
00:14those in rural areas. They've got shorter snouts, which is a classic sign of something called
00:18domestication syndrome. Now that's the same pattern we see in animals that humans have
00:23unintentionally tamed over thousands of years. So why is this happening? Well, because the raccoons,
00:27bold enough to dig through our trash, get rewarded with easy food. So they no longer have to fight
00:32for food to survive, and those calmer traits get passed on. Now this is basically the same process
00:37scientists think turn wolves into dogs. Less fear, more access to food. So if this is true,
00:42our garbage is shaping raccoon biology, and researchers think armadillos and opossums might be next. So are
00:47you on board for a raccoon roommate, or do you think scientists got it wrong? Let us know what
00:52you think in the comments and follow us here for more.
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