Malcolm Gladwell

For a while, there wasn't even consensus on how exactly they evolved. The famous naturalist Carl Linnaeus called them Ursus Loder, or washer bear, because they liked to rinse their food in water and he thought they descended from bears. Now, for any true raccoon fans out there, I should note that, yes, they aren't actually washing their food.

They basically see with their paws, and their paws are more sensitive in the water. This, by the way, is the instinct behind that amazing Japanese TV show where they gave a raccoon cotton candy, which the raccoon dutifully washed until it vanished. But no, they're not washing, and they're not bears.

They basically see with their paws, and their paws are more sensitive in the water. This, by the way, is the instinct behind that amazing Japanese TV show where they gave a raccoon cotton candy, which the raccoon dutifully washed until it vanished. But no, they're not washing, and they're not bears.

When Christopher Columbus first set foot in the New World, he remarked upon its, quote, clown-like dogs, to which the people of Italy said, Chris... What the hell are you talking about? Until centuries later, another naturalist realized, oh, he's talking about raccoons.

When Christopher Columbus first set foot in the New World, he remarked upon its, quote, clown-like dogs, to which the people of Italy said, Chris... What the hell are you talking about? Until centuries later, another naturalist realized, oh, he's talking about raccoons.

Pettit went looking for a history of raccoon science, specifically about people investigating their intelligence, and found basically nothing. A handful of scientists, and one slim volume in particular, from 1907, titled Concerning the Intelligence of Raccoons. It was written by a man named Lawrence Cole, frontier raccoonist.

Pettit went looking for a history of raccoon science, specifically about people investigating their intelligence, and found basically nothing. A handful of scientists, and one slim volume in particular, from 1907, titled Concerning the Intelligence of Raccoons. It was written by a man named Lawrence Cole, frontier raccoonist.

Lawrence Cole had done his graduate work at Harvard and was part of a psychological movement that studied animals to understand humans. In the 19th century, psychology had largely been based on what people said about how they felt, which was not super reliable. So why not instead observe how animals behave and just extrapolate up the chain from there?

Lawrence Cole had done his graduate work at Harvard and was part of a psychological movement that studied animals to understand humans. In the 19th century, psychology had largely been based on what people said about how they felt, which was not super reliable. So why not instead observe how animals behave and just extrapolate up the chain from there?

But which animal was best for the psychologists to study? Any of them theoretically could work. Scientists were comparing species across tests to see how they'd fare. People had studied chickens, dogs. Cole's advisor liked the idea of studying monkeys, but monkeys are super expensive.

But which animal was best for the psychologists to study? Any of them theoretically could work. Scientists were comparing species across tests to see how they'd fare. People had studied chickens, dogs. Cole's advisor liked the idea of studying monkeys, but monkeys are super expensive.

It would be helpful, though, if there were a kind of consensus, a lingua franca animal that people could generalize from.

It would be helpful, though, if there were a kind of consensus, a lingua franca animal that people could generalize from.

Cole still had to find an experiment of his own to get his PhD. These raccoons seemed promising.

Cole still had to find an experiment of his own to get his PhD. These raccoons seemed promising.

Cole began running tests on the raccoons. He put them in boxes with complicated locks every day for a whole academic year, and he found they were incredible. Any box, it seemed, any puzzle, the raccoon could solve it. And what's more, the animal wasn't just going through the motions. The raccoon seemed curious about what he was doing.

Cole began running tests on the raccoons. He put them in boxes with complicated locks every day for a whole academic year, and he found they were incredible. Any box, it seemed, any puzzle, the raccoon could solve it. And what's more, the animal wasn't just going through the motions. The raccoon seemed curious about what he was doing.

And Cole thought there was evidence that raccoons could hold images in their mind. Nobody was making these kinds of claims about other animals. So Cole started publishing his research, writing to leading figures in psychology, saying, hey, these raccoons are really unusually intelligent, maybe as intelligent as monkeys, which seems to me like it should make them a great model organism for people.

And Cole thought there was evidence that raccoons could hold images in their mind. Nobody was making these kinds of claims about other animals. So Cole started publishing his research, writing to leading figures in psychology, saying, hey, these raccoons are really unusually intelligent, maybe as intelligent as monkeys, which seems to me like it should make them a great model organism for people.

except there was a movement that was growing swiftly within cole's field right around then which was explicitly uncomfortable with any talk of an animal having a mind and it was fast becoming the only show in town it was called behaviorism all this history is documented in an amazing article by michael pettit titled the problem of raccoon intelligence in behaviorist america