How Smart Are Raccoons? What Studies Show About Their Brains

What experiments show

Raccoons have been studied less than apes, dolphins or crows, but the tests that exist paint a consistent picture of a curious, flexible problem-solver.

• Lock-picking (early 1900s): The psychologist H. B. Davis gave raccoons a set of 13 complex locks and latches. They opened 11 of them in fewer than ten tries and could still open them when the locks were rearranged or turned upside down. Davis concluded that they grasped the principles of the mechanisms and learned about as fast as rhesus monkeys.
• Long-term memory (1960s to 1990s): Several studies found that raccoons remember the solutions to tasks for at least three years. In one, raccoons could immediately tell identical from different symbols three years after a short learning phase.
• Counting: Raccoons have been reported to pick out boxes holding three grapes from boxes holding two or four, a basic sense of number.

The Aesop’s fable test

One of the best-known modern studies borrowed an idea from Aesop’s fable The Crow and the Pitcher, in which a thirsty crow drops stones into a pitcher to raise the water. In a test published in Animal Cognition in 2017, researchers led by Lauren Stanton trained captive raccoons to drop stones into a tube of water to bring a floating marshmallow within reach.

Only two of the eight raccoons solved the task in the intended way, but the animals were inventive in other ways: one raccoon simply tipped the whole tube over to get the reward. The researchers suggested that the raccoons’ performance reflected their body shape, behavior and the test design rather than a lack of brainpower, and that tests designed for birds need adapting for animals that solve problems with their hands.

Inside a raccoon’s brain

A raccoon’s brain is small, but research by neuroscientist Suzana Herculano-Houzel and colleagues found that its cerebral cortex, the part linked to complex thinking, holds about 450 million neurons. That is roughly as many as in many dogs, nearly twice as many as in a domestic cat and more than in a brown bear, whose brain is many times larger.

The raccoon also devotes a huge share of its sensory brain to touch. Almost two-thirds of the area that processes the senses handles signals from the paws, more than in any other animal studied. This helps explain why so many raccoon skills involve feeling, manipulating and opening things, and why they handle food in water, as described in why do raccoons wash their food?

Problem-solving in towns and cities

Many people meet raccoon intelligence in their own yards. Urban raccoons learn which bins hold food, when garbage is put out and how to lift lids, pull open latches and tear through bags. Captive raccoons are known for unscrewing jars, uncorking bottles and opening door latches, and experienced animals have even been recorded opening door knobs.

Some scientists think city life may favor curious, bold and flexible raccoons, because those that explore new objects find more food. This idea is still being studied. What is clear is that raccoons have done extremely well in cities, from New York and Toronto to Kassel in Germany, partly because they adapt their behavior so quickly. Their urban menu is described in what do raccoons eat?

How raccoons compare with other clever animals

Comparing intelligence across species is tricky, because each animal is tested on skills that suit its body and lifestyle. Raccoons shine at physical puzzles that use their hands. They are less impressive at tasks built around eyesight, since they see poorly at a distance and are thought to be largely color blind.

Neuron counts are only one clue to intelligence, and figures vary between studies and individuals. For other clever species, see the smartest animals list, or compare raccoons with another underrated thinker in how smart are pigs?

Myths and facts about raccoon intelligence

• Myth: Raccoons have hands like monkeys. Raccoon paws are very nimble, but they have no opposable thumb, so raccoons grip with their whole hand or both paws together.
• Myth: A raccoon that is unafraid of people must be sick. Bold behavior is often learned in towns, where raccoons live near people for many generations. Still, any raccoon acting strangely should be avoided and reported to local wildlife authorities.
• Fact: Raccoons can learn by experience very fast. Once a raccoon finds that a bin or shed opens, it tends to remember and return.

To learn more about the animal behind these skills, see the raccoon profile.