Overview
- In controlled trials, raccoons continued manipulating a multi-access puzzle box after retrieving the only marshmallow reward available in each 20-minute session.
- The custom box offered nine entry mechanisms rated easy, medium, and hard, and animals often opened additional solutions even with no further food on offer.
- Raccoons explored broadly on easy tasks and shifted to reliable options as difficulty rose, demonstrating an exploration–exploitation tradeoff in decision-making.
- The peer-reviewed study, led by Hannah Griebling with Dr. Sarah Benson-Amram at the University of British Columbia, is published in the journal Animal Behaviour.
- Experiments involved captive raccoons at a Colorado facility, and the authors note that while prior work points to similar abilities in the wild, behaviors may not match exactly; the findings also help explain urban success linked to forepaw dexterity and suggest management insights for problem-solving wildlife.