# babies, puppies, kittens et al **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 8, 2009, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babies-puppies-kittens-et-al/488697 "2009-03-08T01:46:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![enomaj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@enomaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enomaj)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babies-puppies-kittens-et-al/488697/1 "2009-03-08T01:46:20Z")
Why are babies and their animal counterparts cuter than the adult versions? ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babies-puppies-kittens-et-al/488697/2 "2009-03-08T01:54:54Z")
I’ve always theorized that human babies are cute so that we don’t kill them in sheer frustration when they scream us awake in the middle of the night, or emit so much poop that it seeps out of their diaper and _somehow **up** the back of their shirt/onesie/pajamas!!!_ ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babies-puppies-kittens-et-al/488697/3 "2009-03-08T02:08:14Z")
> [@enomaj](#): > > Why are babies and their animal counterparts cuter than the adult versions? Adaptive feature. Adults are, by and large, hard-wired to respond to juvenile mammalian characteristics with affection/nurturing. Baby lizards typically don’t generate an identical cute response except among those who like lizards in the first place ( like me ). But even an adult that dislikes dogs will usually admit puppies are cute - they share certain features ( proportionately large eyes, rounded heads, etc. ) in common with human babies. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babies-puppies-kittens-et-al/488697/4 "2009-03-08T02:25:21Z")
One exception would have to be baby birds…eRrrrk! Alien looking little things, but somehow, cute even in their ugliness! My cockatiel was hand raised by me from 3 weeks on. OMgoodness, what a hideous little creature, and that feeeeeeedme noise…ARGGGGGhh, brain piercing! But somehow, the very helplessness, or something, still made me feel protective. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babies-puppies-kittens-et-al/488697/5 "2009-03-08T02:43:40Z")
Big eyes. ---
**Author:** ![enomaj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@enomaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enomaj)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babies-puppies-kittens-et-al/488697/6 "2009-03-08T03:33:52Z")
Thanks for the replies. It was a random thought that popped into my head. i googled ‘babies cuter than adults’ first and found a website for moms pondering the pc-ness of thinking their babies were cuter than someone else’s. Not what I was looking for. That’s when I came here. After going back to google and going more than a few pages deep I found a ‘why are babies cute?’ website (www.rps.psu.edu/probing/babies.html) talking bout the evolution of baby cuteness and a little about that adaptive feature Tamerlane mentioned. @elfkin477 _short and sweet_