Clever Raccoon Really Earned the Food It Got From a Bird Feeder

Raccoons are the real animal of the moment: A couple weeks ago, St. Paul, Minnesota (along with the entire internet) was both concerned for and enamored by a raccoon that scaled the side of a skyscraper in the city (the situation was thankfully resolved safely). Now the trash pandas are back at it, and this time, they’re using their resourcefulness to procure some forbidden food.

A video on social media of a particularly genius raccoon using its smarts to get some food out of a bird feeder made the rounds recently, and it’s impressive. The animal climbs up the post the feeder is on, gets around the baffle specifically designed to keep him away, manages to latch onto the bird feeder, and uses its hind legs to unscrew the bottom of the bird feeder, sending his tasty reward falling to the ground and within reach.

Raccoons were recently shown to be among some of the smarter animals you’ll find in an urban environment: They have a higher neuron density in the brain than dogs and cats, which suggests that they are more intelligent because of it. If this video isn’t proof of that, then you’re a really hard person to convince.

What do you think of this hungry guy? Would you just leave him a bowl of seed so he wouldn’t have to go through all the trouble? Let us know what you think down in the comments!

Featured image: David Slater/Flickr

Of course, we love us some fictional raccoon too…

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