Regina Barber

Like you said, it was done on a fairly small sample with foxes that have already been like on this path to domestication.

They were in this farm.

Does that mean we could be wrong about domestication syndrome?

Is there still controversy?

Yeah.

And you mentioned earlier that this is very like beginning stages of, you know, asking this question, are raccoons becoming domesticated in urban areas?

What are the potential like blind spots of this study?

So are we like thousands of years away at best probably from pet raccoons if this is real?

Rafaela, thank you so much for talking with me about trash pandas.

I love raccoons, actually.

If you liked this episode, don't forget to follow us on the NPR app or whatever podcasting platform you use.

Also, if trash pandas are one of your favorite animals, check out our episode on rabies vaccines dropped from the sky.

And you could also check out how a dog aging project can help pets and humans live healthier lives.

We'll link to them in our episode notes.

This episode was produced by Hannah Chin and edited by our showrunner, Rebecca Ramirez.

Tyler Jones checked the facts.

Jimmy Keeley was the audio engineer.

Beth Donovan is our vice president of podcasting strategy.

I'm Regina Barber.

Thank you for listening to Shortwave from NPR.