A Seattle-area raccoon with a shortened spine has become one of the most popular animals on the internet. Jimoti’s videos of him walking around neighborhoods, balancing on backyard fences, and performing his nighttime routine have garnered millions of views. Her popularity makes sense: She’s adorable and easy to recognize with her unique body shape. But what if our emotional investment in the life of a wild raccoon has less to do with Jimoti himself and more to do with what he awakens within us?
From human-centered to wild otherness
Modern life is almost entirely human-centered. We spend our days in environments that are completely made for and by people. Our screens and our daily lives reflect more of us to ourselves. Ecophilosopher David Abrams says that when our lives become human-centered, something important is lost. People are wired to communicate with what he calls wild alienation: living non-human beings whose lives are opposed to ours. Encountering wildlife takes people away in a way that is both fascinating and expansive. Jimoti’s presence takes us out of our own world and reminds us that we are creatures in an ecosystem, in relation to our environment.
We lose our sense of belonging to the living world
Perhaps what draws us to Jimoti is not only the fascinating way of navigating urban life as a unique raccoon, but also the recognition that we ourselves are disconnected from the natural world in the digital age. Watching his videos reminds us of this long-lost part of ourselves: a child who enjoyed exploring nature with wonder and curiosity and lived in a simpler world. Environmental psychology uses the term ecological personality describing the part of our personal identities that is formed through relationships with landscapes, plants, and animals that provide a psychological sense of belonging to the larger community of life that shapes value systems (Clayton). Recognizing that our identities extend beyond the confines of our skin and spirit to include the natural world around us helps us feel a sense of belonging. Our conscious awareness of our neighborhoods moves from homes to ecosystems. Families of birds live in trees, their lives go along with ours. We are members of a great web of life.
We enjoy a shared miracle
In a hyper-connected world, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the constant stream of political conflict. climate anxietyand stories solitudeleaving little room for feelings of joy and surprise. However, millions of people stopped to marvel at the same unexpected creature. Team productivity is a term used to describe shared experiences of joy, surprise, or panic that can strengthen social ties. It brought people together to smile at the same unlikely creature.
What Jimoti really represents
Jimoti is loved not only for who he is, but for what he represents to us. He reminds us that we as humans are not the center of the world. The universe takes us away from our personal worries and stresses to remember that we are part of a larger ecosystem around us and that we are made for relationships beyond relationships with other people. Sometimes all it takes is a unique dance to remind us that we have always belonged to nature.
