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CLEVER RACCOON BRAINS CAN CLARIFY HUMAN INTELLIGENCE, TOO  
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Kelly Lambert
January 16, 2026
The Conversation
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_ In addition to their impressive brains, raccoons’ dexterous hands
play a key role in their cognitively creative escapades. Researchers
have found that raccoon forepaws mapped onto their cerebral cortex in
a similar manner to human hands. _

The moment you look away from those adorable eyes, these mischievous
creatures will sneak out of your lab, Joshua J. Cotten/Unsplash, CC
BY-SA

 

When a curious raccoon broke into an Ashland, Virginia, liquor store
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in December 2025, sampled the stock and passed out on the bathroom
floor, the story went viral within minutes. The local animal
shelter’s Facebook post was picked up by national and international
outlets and quickly inspired raccoon-themed cocktails, “trashed
panda” merchandise and even a cameo on “Saturday Night Live
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For me, the story hit close to home. The store that hosted this
inebriated bandit sits just blocks from the small behavioral
neuroscience laboratory where I began investigating raccoon brains
[[link removed]] about 15 years ago. Although the
so-called drunken raccoon made questionable decisions after breaking
into the liquor store, the species – _Procyon lotor_ – is known
for its impressive intelligence, curiosity and problem-solving skills
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Despite being one of the most intriguing mammals living alongside
humans, raccoons have avoided the scientific spotlight. Why aren’t
more neuroscientists and psychologists studying raccoons
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What have researchers missed about the mammalian brain by focusing on
rodents instead?

 

Someone had a good time.

Why raccoons aren’t lab staples

In the U.S., it is estimated that laboratories use more than 100
million rodents [[link removed]],
including mice and rats, each year. Rodents are ideal for research
because they reproduce easily and adapt well to confinement.
Scientists have tailored extensive research tools to study them. Long
before rats dominated psychology labs, raccoons were actually a
leading candidate for animal models [[link removed]]
of problem-solving and intelligence.

That ended when scientists realized they’d met their cognitive
match. In one study, researchers reported that all raccoon
participants escaped through the laboratory ventilation system
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Unsurprisingly, scientists promptly shifted to rodents
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Practicality – not scientific suitability – ultimately crowned the
rat as king of the laboratory. I have studied rats for decades
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and I can confirm that none have ever disappeared into the ceiling.

Neither pet nor pest

Humans have an ambivalent relationship with raccoons
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be domesticated, too endearing to be treated purely as pests and too
ubiquitous to be considered exotic wildlife. Even President Calvin
Coolidge, who famously received a raccoon intended for the dinner
table from a supporter in Mississippi, ended up keeping it as a
beloved White House pet
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And the role confusion continues today with glimpses of humanlike
behaviors in raccoons as they enter our living spaces. One report
described raccoons interacting with playground equipment at a child
care center [[link removed]] on Canada’s
west coast in ways similar to human children, and even breaking into
classrooms as if they were auditing the morning lesson.

[Raccoon climbing a metal ladder]
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Raccoons know how to get around. RLO'Leary/Moment Open
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Inspired by Montessori education principles
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I visited a raccoon rehabilitation center in Saskatoon, Canada, called
Bandit Ranch Rehab [[link removed]] a few years ago.
After introducing young raccoons to slinkies, puzzles and blocks, I
sat in awe as they interacted with these objects with the focused
enthusiasm of preschoolers on a mission.

This interspecies confusion seems to be mutual. Recent evidence
suggests that urban raccoons are becoming increasingly tolerant of
humans
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especially when it suits them. But they are quick to leave when
curiosity or opportunity calls.

Raccoon imagination

The drunken Ashland raccoon captured global attention because it fit
the narrative people have projected onto the species: mischievous,
opportunistic, clever and more than a little humanlike. But their
sophisticated brains and mental capacities, aligning more with
primates than other mammals, are even more intriguing.

Early behavioral research suggested that raccoons can learn a task,
walk away and later return to solve it accurately
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– as if having mentally rehearsed the solution. In contrast, other
species, including dogs and rats, needed to maintain continuous focus.
Scientists have speculated that raccoons have mental imagery
capabilities similar to humans.

[Person kneeling on ground holding notebook, while a raccoon stands on
its hind legs to also look at the notebook]
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Raccoons had some notes for the author’s student, too. Kelly
Lambert, CC BY-NC-SA
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When a rogue raccoon scaled a 25-story skyscraper in Minneapolis
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but wonder what that animal was anticipating at the top. Do raccoons
form internal representations of future outcomes? And if so, how much
agency and foresight do they bring to their decisions?

To answer these questions, I have collaborated with wildlife
biologists, veterinarians and neuroscientists around the country to
study what may be one of the most underestimated and understudied
brains in the animal kingdom.

What’s going on inside the raccoon brain?

Working with neuroscientist Suzana Herculano-Houzel
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laboratory at the University of Richmond has found that raccoons pack
an astonishing number of neurons – an amount comparable to primates
– into their brains. Scaled up to size, a raccoon brain would
contain roughly the same number of neurons as a human brain
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We also found that raccoons possess specialized fast-conducting brain
cells known as von Economo neurons
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other great apes and a few additional large-brained mammals. In apes,
these neurons appear in both the insula – a part of the brain
important for processing internal body states – and the anterior
cingulate, which plays a key role in emotional regulation. In
raccoons, these neurons are present only in the insula and not in the
anterior cingulate.

This neural arrangement may help explain the species’ striking
combination of clever problem-solving and rapid decision-making during
exploration – frequently leading to risky behaviors that can have
unfortunate consequences
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These findings raise the possibility that raccoon neuroscience could
offer useful insights into the neural foundations of impulse control
and distracted attention.

[Two sets of raccoon paws held in a human hand]
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The dexterity of raccoon hands enables their humanlike escapades.
Zocha_K/iStock via Getty Images Plus
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In collaboration with ecologist Sara Benson-Abram
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research team, we also found that raccoons with more sophisticated
cognitive abilities had more neural cells in the hippocampus
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learning and memory capacities map onto similar brain systems as those
in people. Taxi drivers in London
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who frequently use their knowledge of the 25,000 streets in London,
also have a larger hippocampal area.

In addition to their impressive brains, raccoons’ dexterous hands
play a key role in their cognitively creative escapades. Indeed,
researchers have found that raccoon forepaws are mapped onto their
cerebral cortex [[link removed]] – the
outer layer of the brain – in a similar manner as human hands. Both
take up a lot of real estate in the brain. As journalist Carl Zimmer
wrote, “The hand is where the mind meets the world
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What raccoons can teach us about the human brain

As I argue in my upcoming book “Wild Brains,” understanding
raccoon intelligence requires observing them in the environments they
choose – not confining them to the small, simple spaces that suit
rats and mice. So-called living laboratories
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wildlife without restricting their behavior may be scientists’ best
chance at unlocking the secrets of this species’ remarkable mind.

In my graduate training, I was taught to avoid anthropomorphizing
animal research subjects [[link removed]] –
to resist the temptation to project human thoughts and emotions onto
nonhuman minds, because human brains likely contribute to uniquely
human cognitive and emotional experiences. But primatologist Frans de
Waal later introduced the useful counterpoint of anthropodenial
[[link removed]]: the mistaken assumption
that animals cannot share emotional or cognitive capacities with
humans simply because they are not human.

The drunken Ashland raccoon captured global attention not just because
the story was funny, but because it felt familiar. People recognized
something of themselves in this curious, impulsive, problem-solving
animal navigating a very human environment. A willingness to lean away
from anthropodenial – while remaining grounded in rigorous science
– may open new paths for understanding raccoon intelligence and,
ultimately, the wonderfully complex human brain.[The Conversation]

_Kelly Lambert_
[[link removed]]_,
Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience, __University of Richmond_
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_This article is republished from __The Conversation_
[[link removed]]_ under a Creative Commons license. Read
the __original article_
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* Science
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* animal intelligence
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* intelligence
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* psychology
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* Evolution
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