# What is the evolutionary reason for so many people finding baby animals cuter than human babies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 2, 2015, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760 "2015-09-02T23:55:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![phantom\_lamb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@phantom\_lamb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phantom_lamb)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2015, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/1 "2015-09-02T23:55:25Z")
Everybody loves puppies and kittens - but lots of those people have aversion to human babies. I have to admit I am one of those people too - puppies make me melt, babies make me feel indifferent at best. But why is this so common? Shouldn’t we as a species be wired to view our human infants as the most precious and sacrifice-worthy of things? Perhaps this changes once you become a mother/father, as I imagine I would probably find my theoretical child adorable personally. But yeah, what gives? ---
**Author:** ![Itself](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/d07c76/32.png) [@Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/2 "2015-09-03T00:09:19Z")
Why does it have to have an evolutionary basis? Babies are weird and blobby and look like Winston Churchill. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/3 "2015-09-03T00:11:45Z")
People don’t find their own children less precious and worthy of sacrifice. That’s all that matters. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/4 "2015-09-03T00:12:42Z")
> [@phantom\_lamb](#): > > Everybody loves puppies and kittens - but lots of those people have aversion to human babies. I have to admit I am one of those people too - puppies make me melt, babies make me feel indifferent at best. > > But why is this so common? Shouldn’t we as a species be wired to view our human infants as the most precious and sacrifice-worthy of things? > > Perhaps this changes once you become a mother/father, as I imagine I would probably find my theoretical child adorable personally. > > But yeah, what gives? I love babies. I’m completely indifferent to puppies, and while I like cats, they have no more hold on me as kittens than as adults. ETA: And I DO find babies more precious than kittens. I’d die or murder to protect my own kids; I’d risk injury for a strange babty, or commit assault. Not so for a kitten. ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/5 "2015-09-03T02:40:01Z")
You make a good point. I don’t know about the evolutionary angle, though. Here in Mexico, over 100,000 neighbors, family, fellow humans have died due to the drug war. Very little was said. In a town close to mine, a puppy had its eyes gouged out and was sexually abused, and the news went viral. Everyone was all over it. Saying for this we need capital punishment. And rewards were offered for the arrest. Yet, over 100,000 humans are dead. And nothing. Very interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/6 "2015-09-03T03:08:34Z")
It may partly be related to the “super-releaser” effect. In brief, seagulls like to sit on eggs. They like big eggs. Bigger the better. So experimenters offered them effing ginormous eggs, like basketball sized. The seagulls loved 'em and sat on 'em in preference to realistic-sized eggs. (Jessica Rabbit, anyone?) Some instincts are like this, and so our instinctive attraction to neotenic (child-like) features – big eyes, round foreheads, short noses – are triggered (or “released”) by cute little babies…and “superreleased” by kittens and puppies. (Baby spiders, not so much.) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/7 "2015-09-03T03:15:00Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > (Baby spiders, not so much.) Maybe they need bigger eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/8 "2015-09-03T03:25:26Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Maybe they need bigger eyes. They don’t need more of them. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/9 "2015-09-03T03:53:51Z")
First- I think that the baby animal cuteness cliche, while true, is a much more recent thing than people today realize. Animal cruelty being an intolerable and heinous act is both a modern thing and a first-world luxury. I say that while at the same time confess to being absolutely intolerant of it myself. Second- I think there’s also a ‘cartoon/advertising’ element to it as well. Again, before the modern time contact with animals was much, much more common via rural farm life etc. As industrialization removed us from that, exposure thru media (first print then film etc.) compensated for it. Then, it _over_-compensated for it. Stories and books and movies about animals became the norm for children. So they therefore became nostalgic and innocent for adults. Plus media can easily anthropomorphizing them with human speech and culture while at the same time still overemphasize their childlike cuteness with large eyes and high-pitched voices etc. Third- Babies are intrinsically ‘cute’, but also complicated, burdening, and therefore scary. Baby animals like puppies and kittens are also a little burdening, but not nearly as much, so their cuteness is much easier to enjoy, almost a guilty pleasure. So I don’t think it’s an evolutionary thing at all, but just a recent social more… ---
**Author:** ![Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emtar_KronJonDerSohn)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/10 "2015-09-03T04:34:59Z")
Cute baby predators = bait. ---
**Author:** ![phantom\_lamb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@phantom\_lamb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phantom_lamb)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/11 "2015-09-03T07:21:37Z")
Some interesting points being made. Especially the one that it’s a recent thing - I never thought about that. Now that I think of it, it’s mostly the older people that I know (like my grandmother) who don’t care much for animals but love babies. It’s the younger people in their 20s and 30s who prefer animals, from my experience. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/12 "2015-09-03T07:35:06Z")
Human babies scare people. They’re a huge amount of responsibility and work, making them the very symbol of “adulthood”, the boogeyman of the modern age. And that doesn’t just apply to your own babies. Even strange babies are threatening - non-parents are afraid to hold them wrong, while experienced parents are reminded of sleepless nights and regurgitated formula. Baby animals, OTOH, can be cooed at, picked up by the scrap of their neck, and then ignored. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/13 "2015-09-03T07:42:56Z")
Plus, plenty of people legitimately do not want children, and see an obsession with babies as a passive-aggressive threat to their lifestyle choice - which it often is. ---
**Author:** ![Niterover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Niterover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Niterover)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/14 "2015-09-03T08:17:02Z")
Whats really intersting there Harmonica Moon. Was the great detail you went into in describing what happened to the puppy. (whoever did that should rot in hell for eternity) But was totally unresponsive to the OP question, but thanks for the visual anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/15 "2015-09-03T09:23:34Z")
Things that help us pass on our genes are selected for. Things that hinder us passing on our genes are selected against. Things that don’t have any effect on our ability to pass on our genes, in other words _most_ things, are not affected by evolution. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/16 "2015-09-03T09:26:34Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Human babies scare people. They sure scare me. I don’t know what I find the most terrifying these days: Babies, teenagers or clowns. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/17 "2015-09-03T09:47:03Z")
> [@Itself](#): > > Why does it have to have an evolutionary basis? Babies are weird and blobby and look like Winston Churchill. A lot of babies are born with a full head of hair, my son had hair several inches long at birth on his whole head and he was a premie. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/18 "2015-09-03T09:49:34Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > They sure scare me. > > I don’t know what I find the most terrifying these days: Babies, teenagers or clowns. What is scary about a baby?😕 I mean it is absolutely incapable of harming you. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/19 "2015-09-03T10:09:37Z")
> [@grude](#): > > What is scary about a baby?😕 I mean it is absolutely incapable of harming you. Maybe I’m just a pedophobe. But they smell funny. And they leak all kinds of weird fluids. Also, I’m afraid of dropping them, or breaking off parts of them, or something. I really don’t want to hold one, or even touch one at all. They creep me out. I certainly don’t find them cute. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/20 "2015-09-03T11:48:48Z")
Anyone who thinks puppies or kittens are cute has never seen a newborn puppy or kitten. They look pretty freaky for the first week or two. And the same is true for humans, except that by the standards of the rest of the mammals, we’re born seriously premature, and so that freaky stage lasts for a year or so. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760.md?page=2)