UA Little Rock Raccoon Study Goes Viral, Capturing Millions Online
One morning, a University of Arkansas at Little Rock research project showed up on millions of phones. A UA Little Rock professor’s study on urban raccoons — once confined to a classroom and a scientific journal — had gone viral, sparking national attention and an unexpected wave of visibility for student-driven research.
Dr. Raffaela Lesch, assistant professor of biology at UA Little Rock, recently published a study that identified physical traits in raccoons which might hint at early signs of domestication. The study, titled Tracking domestication signals across populations of North American raccoons (Procyon lotor) via citizen science-driven image repositories, was published in the journal Frontiers in Zoology.
The study, co-authored by Lesch and 16 students, began with one question: can an urban environment trigger a phenotype, or a physical trait, that could be consistent with what we see in domesticated animals? The research found that urban raccoons showed a shortening of snout length compared with those in rural areas, a physical change commonly associated with domestication.
“Urban environments can mimic the conditions early domesticated animals experienced, like when dogs and cats were beginning that process. These environments force animals to coexist closely with humans, which while risky also comes with benefits like fewer predators and easy access to food. We wanted to see whether cities could provide a setting to study early stage domestication processes in wild populations,” Lesch said.
Lesch said she did not expect the research conducted with her students to take the world by storm. The study has been covered by news outlets such as NPR, BBC, CNN, and Smithsonian. Videos on social media platforms have garnered millions of views, one surpassing 6 million. She emphasized the surreal nature of the widespread media attention.
“It is very strange,” Lesch said. “At night you’re scrolling through Instagram watching cute cat and dog videos and suddenly your own face pops up on the screen.”
She said she is excited to continue building her research network both in Arkansas and beyond. Lesch is working to strengthen partnerships within the state, including with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, while also expanding collaborations with researchers at other universities.
The most rewarding outcome, she said, has been the experience it created for her students. For many, it marked their first published research.
“It’s really rewarding to have this engagement highlight the high quality research that can be done with a large group of students,” Lesch said. “For a research timeline, it hasn’t been long since the study was published, but it has opened doors both nationally and internationally, and I’m very excited to see where it goes next.”
For Lesch, the viral moment is less about visibility and more about momentum — a reminder that meaningful research can happen in classrooms, through collaboration, and with help from everyday people who are curious about the world around them.
The study was created in a biometry class that Lesch structured as a course-based undergraduate research experience. Extracurricular research can be difficult for students with additional responsibilities to fit into their schedules, but classes like this allow students to gain research experience in a more accessible way. Students develop practical research skills while contributing meaningfully to broader scientific conversations and producing tangible results from their work.
Driven by questions about how domestication works and how it can be observed in real time, Lesch used iNaturalist, a citizen science platform that allows people to submit photos of plants and wildlife they encounter in everyday life. The platform enables scientists to study species across time and place in ways that would otherwise be impossible. Through iNaturalist, Lesch incorporated data from more than 20,000 images of raccoons across the United States into the study.
Lesch said it has been energizing to see the public’s excitement about raccoons and the opportunity to contribute to scientific research. The response has inspired her to continue working with citizen science in future research projects, with a focus on actively inviting the public, not just students, to participate.
Direct public engagement has helped strengthen an ongoing connection between Lesch’s research and everyday citizens. She said she has received numerous emails from people eager to contribute, many of whom have shared photos of raccoons in their backyards along with personal observations.
“I really hope this study gets people excited to read scientific papers and reach out to the authors,” Lesch said. “It has meant so much to hear not just from other researchers, but from people who read the article or saw the work and took the time to reach out. Getting an email that simply says, ‘I really enjoyed this,’ is incredibly meaningful. If you ever read something that excites you, I hope you email the author. Those messages matter.”
According to Lesch, the work is far from finished. She and her students continue to study raccoons, with additional projects already underway. She said she plans to expand similar research to other species, including opossums and armadillos.
The media attention has led to more than viral videos, resulting in collaborations with other researchers and speaking invitations. Most recently, she spoke about domestication research at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
She said science is fundamentally collaborative, driven by conversation, shared ideas and the exchange that happens when researchers challenge one another’s perspectives. Being part of that ongoing dialogue and watching the field evolve through collective effort is one of the most rewarding aspects of her work.
Lesch hopes the response to the study also challenges assumptions about where impactful research happens.
“There is incredible research coming out of Arkansas,” she said. “You don’t need massive budgets to do meaningful, competitive science. Building community, involving students, and inviting the public into the process is where a lot of that impact comes from.”
Together, the study’s reach and its ongoing momentum reflect UA Little Rock’s role as a place where meaningful research grows through collaboration, curiosity, and accessibility. By engaging students, partnering with fellow researchers, and inviting the public to take part in the scientific process, Lesch’s work demonstrates how impactful scholarship can emerge from classrooms and extend far beyond campus.