The raccoon raiding your garbage bin might just be solving a puzzle — for the fun of it |
Ever woken up to find that a crafty raccoon has overturned your garbage bin and spread the discarded contents of your life across the street?
Raccoons — sometimes referred to as “trash pandas” — are renowned as excellent innovators and problem-solvers who can often find their way through the trickiest barriers in their search for food.
So how do raccoons adapt their problem-solving strategies as tasks become more difficult? And will they still engage in problem solving even if it doesn’t lead to a food reward? We designed a research experiment to find out.
We were startled to discover that raccoons were intrinsically motivated to solve multiple puzzles within a 20-minute trial, even when finding a solution did not directly lead to an irresistible marshmallow.
Innovative brains, like primates
Raccoons often engage in problem-solving when foraging in human-dominated areas, and have several adaptations that allow them to do this.
First, they have a high number of neurons packed into a relatively small brain. Their neuronal density is more similar to that of primates than other carnivores.
They also have highly dexterous forepaws adapted for foraging in streams, and a generalist diet that........