But it is of "squirrel kind". It is so characteristic of the psychopathology of creIDism that they require superhyper evolution since the flud, but cannot stand ordinary evolution.Doh! I just took the very first picture I got with googling "squirrel". So it's not my fault.
Ramping up squirrel cuteness.
Well, there's obviously very good reason as to why we find members of our own species to be "cute", but I often wonder why it is that we find the juveniles of many other species to also be cute. Mammals most so, of course, but many other juvenile species are quite cute as well. I find the relative universality of this perceived trait to be quite interesting...My cutometer just blew. Damned you. Hmmm there must be a evolutionary mechanism controlling "cuteness" right?
Keith, I've had kittens do that. Yikes!
Definition of cute baby animal can be stretched at times:
I gather it has something to do with the big-eyed, stumpy-nosed juvenile features that you find in baby amniotes. Why anything from a baby croc (little crocs, oww!Well, there's obviously very good reason as to why we find members of our own species to be "cute", but I often wonder why it is that we find the juveniles of many other species to also be cute. Mammals most so, of course, but many other juvenile species are quite cute as well. I find the relative universality of this perceived trait to be quite interesting...
Well, yeah, but I'm curious as to why it's non-specific to our species. Perhaps it was just easier for evolution to build in a general "cuteness detector" than to make one species-specific?I gather it has something to do with the big-eyed, stumpy-nosed juvenile features that you find in baby amniotes. Why anything from a baby croc (little crocs, oww!) to a baby mammal has them, I'm not sure.
Surely it points to its inception in a common ancestor? I mean, we don't (usually) find fish or amphibian infants to be particularly endearing, but when it comes to our fellow mammals...Well, yeah, but I'm curious as to why it's non-specific to our species. Perhaps it was just easier for evolution to build in a general "cuteness detector" than to make one species-specific?
I personally find baby crocs/alligators cute too. Not sure what everyone else thinks about them, but if that's a widespread thing then it's hardly because our common ancestor had a cuteness detectorSurely it points to its inception in a common ancestor? I mean, we don't (usually) find fish or amphibian infants to be particularly endearing, but when it comes to our fellow mammals...
Well, yeah, but I'm curious as to why it's non-specific to our species. Perhaps it was just easier for evolution to build in a general "cuteness detector" than to make one species-specific?
Perhaps this is it. Perhaps we came to see other species as "cute" just because it causes us to want to nurture them as well, which in turn makes us want to domesticate them. And if domestication has led to a significant positive selective pressure for our ancestors, well, that could explain it. Or domestication could just have been a result of this rather general 'cuteness detector' that was already there.Humans have coexisted long enough with cats, dogs, and various domesticated animals to have selected the humans that like those when young too, I guess the animals have selected us as much as we selected them.
Can't it be that an animal is just less likely to meet the young of another species than the adults, so less selection against misplaced care than misplaced love? I can also imagine that it's riskier trying to court an adult someone (who might just bite you) than cuddle a young someone (who is more likely to nag you for food than do anything more harmful?).But I am slightly disturbed that the body proportions thing keeps being brought up. Sure, this is how our 'cuteness detector' works, but it doesn't explain why it's there in the first place. Just to put in a bit of contrast, we have another built-in aesthetic that is almost exclusively tied to our species alone: sexual attraction. Cuteness, being about nurturing, would for most animals provide about equal waste of time and resources as pursuing a sexual partner of another species. But we have this massive taboo against choosing a sexual partner of another species (and given that animals don't do it either, by and large, we can conclude they probably don't have that either). There is no similar taboo against taking care of the young of another species.
It's possible. But that could make the selective pressure even worse for those that take care of the young of some other species: if it's easier, after all, they are more likely to waste time doing it.Can't it be that an animal is just less likely to meet the young of another species than the adults, so less selection against misplaced care than misplaced love? I can also imagine that it's riskier trying to court an adult someone (who might just bite you) than cuddle a young someone (who is more likely to nag you for food than do anything more harmful?).
Anyway, that's what I could come up with in two minutes
Yes. But if you rarely even see the young of other species, I don't think it's likely enough to happen to be under strong selection.It's possible. But that could make the selective pressure even worse for those that take care of the young of some other species: if it's easier, after all, they are more likely to waste time doing it.
It's possible. But that could make the selective pressure even worse for those that take care of the young of some other species: if it's easier, after all, they are more likely to waste time doing it.
Well, I honestly don't know what the answer is. I just want it to be clear that the answer to why we find non-human animals cute cannot be as simple as just facial proportions or behavior. Sure, this is clearly how our "cuteness detector" works, but it doesn't explain why it's there in the first place, or why it's not specific to our own species.
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