Don’t get too attached to Jimothy

On July 14, Internet history is made. After capturing a video of a cryptid-like raccoon with a curved spine and curled tail in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood, Kiana Hall uploaded the photo to her Instagram account, referring to the tiny furball glowingly as “Jimothy.” (Later, asked in the transcripts where the name came from, Hall replied that the animal “looked like Jimmy to me.”)

Within days, the clip had been viewed millions of times, spawning memes, fan art, cool toys, and more. City leaders have declared a “Jimothy Summer” in honor of the local mascot, and next week, the Seattle Mariners will host “Jimothy Night” at T-Mobile Park, with ticket holders receiving Jimothy T-shirts. Another Seattleite, Ben Trammell, produced a backyard video of Jimothy as a one-year-old baby raccoon with his mother and siblings, adding to his history and celebrity status.

Jimothy’s spinal condition—the exact type is still unknown—has endeared him to people all over the world. But it also raised questions about whether he is succeeding in his urban environment. Even without the unusual skeletal malignancy (in Trammell’s photos, you can see Jimothy struggling with his foot on the fence), wild raccoons only live two to three years—and we know from photos of babies that he’s at least a year old. Are his fans setting themselves up for grief in the near future?

“Without examining the animal, we just don’t know how much the condition of its spine affects its daily activity,” said Rebecca Calisi-Rodríguez, a wildlife biologist at UC Davis who studies animal behavior and stress. He adds that not all congenital diseases significantly reduce an animal’s chances of survival or quality of life. “The fact that Jimothy appears to be young, alert, and successful in navigating an urban environment suggests that he has adapted well to the challenges of everyday life,” says Calisi-Rodríguez, “but that is very different from how long we can predict how long he will live.”

Jimothy may have done this in part because of the sophisticated intelligence of raccoons. The reproductive habits of the species must also play a role. About half of the young die before leaving the den where they were born, but those that do emerge are protected by their mothers long after they have been weaned, unlike the young of many mammal species.

According to Jessica Castillo-Vardaro, whose lab at San José State University specializes in molecular ecology and urban wildlife, Jimothy is probably past the “most vulnerable” period of his life. Now, he says, “it doesn’t have many predators, and its biggest danger is being hit by a car.” While his physical condition may limit his chances against an attacking dog or coyote, Castillo-Vardaro says, Jimothy “probably found a way to avoid those situations, otherwise he wouldn’t be here.”

People’s strong love for animals that become Internet champions can often face the harsh realities of life in the wild, especially for species that are shorter-lived than ours. Castillo-Vardaro points to popular live streams of bird nests that show predators flocking to feed on eggs or chicks. He says: “It’s sad, but it’s part of nature, we shouldn’t run away from it.

Because of the harmful ways content creators and influencers use animals to make them attractive—including editing “rescues” and weird selfies, or even trying to keep them as pets—and the cause for concern is rising. Indeed, wildlife biologists who spoke to WIRED agree that Jimothy’s fame may be the biggest threat to his well-being right now.