r/MadeMeSmile • • May 20 '26

ANIMALS Forever grateful

By @abbyandersonmusic

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u/purdueAces May 20 '26

My cousin had a family of trash pandas in his garage rafters. Unfortunately mama got hit by a car. All the babies went their own way, except the runt, who didn't seem to know what to do, so he took it in. The thing was so freaking fun and playful and cute. ... RIGHT UNTIL HE HIT PUBERTY. Then it turned in to this vicious fucking devil, and he had to be released. Was like a switch flipped in it's mind. They are a long way from domestication.

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u/Ill_Description_3311 May 20 '26

From the point of view of a human's lifespan, yeah, they're a long way from domestication. In evolutionary time frames, I'm not so sure anymore.

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u/CorporateNonperson May 20 '26

Took about forty generations of selected breeding to "domesticate" the silver/gray/Arctic Fox based on that Russian study. So you could probably forcibly domesticate raccoons within 50-100 years depending on breeding cycles.

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u/Christeenabean May 20 '26

Yeah, but that also depends on how far into that process they are.