Could a medium sized mammal in the order carnivora evolve to be bipedal?

In the movie Guardians of the Galaxy (and a few others), we meet a bipedal raccoon known as Rocket (who I am aware did not evolve to be bipedal, but I am using him as an example). I honestly love the idea of an animal the size of a cat/raccoon/coyote evolving to something similar to a human.

This is probably the result of my bias as a human towards things that look like me, but that doesn't mean such a creature wouldn't be a fun thing to include in a fantasy setting.

To repeat my question, I want to know if such a creature could evolve a bone structure that allowed for easy bipedal movement (Not like how gorillas knuckle walk, but rather a creature that would deliberately prefer bipedal movement similar to a human).

Lastly, the creature is not gonna be a raccoon or anything in real life. It is in the order Carnivora, but it would probably most closely resemble maybe a red panda. Or it could belong to an entirely separate family. The idea is that the creature is not based off of anything in real life, but rather evolved from quadrupedal animals that were also fictitious.

posted almost 5 years ago

John Lewis‭

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