Raccoons and people project starts

Raccoon in maple tree.

Photo: Ken Thomas, Wikimedia

Drs. Ted Steegmann, Noreen von Cramon-Taubadel, and Caroline Funk are developing a project in which biogeographic rules will be tested for their fit to raccoons in a range of detailed morphological areas. If patterns are evident, a direct comparison will be made to humans living in the same geographical range occupied by raccoons.

The researchers say the approach is not as odd as it sounds. Raccoons are highly intelligent creatures that feed themselves using their front paws and can eat almost anything. As a result of their flexibility and success, they occupy a great range of territory from the sub-arctic forests to tropical lowlands. The study zone for this project is North America.

The investigation focuses on the degree to which humans have or do not have specific biological adaptations to different physical environments. While such adaptations are a given within general biology, the remarkable capacity of humans to protect themselves using technology and behavior raises the issue of our ability to simply evade our harshest stressors.

The first step, now under way, is to study raccoon noses, skulls and body build, from specimens available in several museums. If that shows systematic relations between anatomy and climate, more detailed data will be collected using populations from several areas, depending on trappers and hunters (who take raccoons for their own reasons) to supply the samples. In the process the researchers anticipate they will learn a lot of environmental biology.

The ultimate step will be assessments of humans living in the same areas as raccoons and the researchers predict strong adaptive homologies. There is already evidence that published material is available in osteology reports, but is yet to be seen whether direct examination of human remains would be necessary.