How does intelligence of raccoons compare with other species? Raccoons bested the abilities of cats and dogs, most closely approximating the mental attributes of monkeys. Raccoons had attracted interest because they flourished, rather than receded, in the face of human expansion. Davis and Cole (two research scientists) claim: that the animal possessed ideas derived from complex forms of mental association, a quality that many scientists argued non-human animals did not possess. Cole claimed that his raccoons could, in certain instances, learn how to solve a puzzle box simply by being “put through” the solution by the experimenter.
