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Dexterous masked bandits have their hands on everything.
Alan Shabel, PhD student in integrative biology - UC Berkeley |
Raccoons are one of the world's most dexterous mammals. They are manual foragers, exploring for food with their sensitive, unwebbed fingers. In a similar way, the African clawless otters (Aonyx) and the marsh mongooses (Atilax) also forage for prey with long, unwebbed fingers. What is more, these three mammals exhibit similarities in their brains: they exhibit a complex development of those brain regions associated with the fine control of the fingers and hands. This appears to represent a case of evolutionary convergence, where three distantly related animals acquired similar behavioral and anatomical traits. |
 Alan Shabel is studying the osteology of these three mammals in order to determine whether they are also convergent in the bony structure of their hands and forelimbs. To do this, it is necessary to examine as large and broad a range of carnivores as possible in order to understand whether the three dexterous forms differ from the others in a consistent way. |
 In the summer of 2005 Alan observed raccoons, raised by Lindsay Wildlife Museum hospital volunteers, using their sensitive hands and foraging. The wildlife hospital also makes an important contribution to this research by saving the carcasses of raccoons and other carnivores that do not survive. The anatomy of their limbs is studied in greater detail to discover the relationship of the North American raccoon to its African cousins. |
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