Comment by oxw
4 days ago
> “I’d love to take those next steps and see if our trash pandas in our backyard are really friendlier than those out in the countryside,” she says.
Would they have to measure "biological" friendliness, comparing lab raised countryside-descended and city-descended raccoons? Domesticated animals can be very unfriendly. Feral cats for example.
It'll be interesting to see what their methodology is. Trapping tends to piss off any raccoon regardless of urban vs rural.
Honestly, measuring the distance to which a single raccoon approaches is a pretty good proxy. City birds are self-domesticating right now; wrens willing to be on the same table as a human get more fries to eat. (And I've actually used this metric on them: the same one or two reliably get closer than the others.)
Oh right. But how do they taste? Asking for a friend.
Not great. My late dog and I agreed on that (although he had his raw, after freezing).
The raw meat is even smelly.
Edit: Dexter did say that, after a few days of aging in the forest, the flavor improved considerably. He was even willing to share.