In a study published in the journal Animal Behaviour on February 27, 2026, PhD student Hannah Griebling and her supervisor Dr. Sarah Benson-Amram gave captive raccoons — tested at a research facility in Colorado — a custom-built puzzle box fitted with nine entry mechanisms: some easy, some medium, some hard. Inside: one marshmallow. The expectation was that the raccoons would grab their reward and move on. They did not.
Even after the marshmallow was gone, the animals kept methodically working their way through additional latches, knobs, and sliding doors — with no more food on offer. Griebling described it as "information foraging": problem-solving purely for the value of learning how things work. What surprised the researchers most was that the raccoons weren't just persisting — they were strategising. When puzzles were easy, the animals explored broadly, averaging nearly 1.9 solutions per trial and varying the order in which they tackled each one. When things got harder, they switched tactics: committing to one reliable method rather than burning energy on uncertainty. Not because they couldn't crack the harder solutions — most could — but because, apparently, raccoons understand diminishing returns.
Griebling compared it to choosing from a restaurant menu: try something new when the stakes are low, stick with what works when the risk goes up. It turns out raccoons have been running that calculation all along.
Dr. Benson-Amram noted that while raccoon intelligence has been celebrated in folklore for generations, serious scientific study of their cognition has remained surprisingly sparse — until now. The findings also have practical implications: understanding what makes raccoons so cognitively adaptable could help researchers develop better strategies for managing other urban problem-solvers, including bears.
Their nimble, sensory-rich forepaws — evolved for fishing in streams — happen to be perfectly suited to human locks and bin lids. So next time yours is breached, consider: you weren't burgled. You were outstrategised.