# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/21 "2015-09-03T12:19:44Z")
It sounds like the OP (as many others) have their hard wired love for babies/offspring redirected towards in his/her case towards puppies. The reason is perhaps we are evolving away from natural evolution towards technological evolution. More advanced societies tend to have lower birthrates, so whatever drove the reproduction cycle, which was a benefit to the species is now being overridden and offspring seem to be viewed as more of a burden then a blessing by many, and perhaps a symbol of oppression and subjugation particularly of woman which is repugnant -breaking that connection of love ‘to’ offspring, however that ‘love’ is still present and had to connect somewhere. Sort of a take on the Stockholm syndrome redirection. ---
**Author:** ![Gothic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Gothic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gothic)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/22 "2015-09-03T12:48:24Z")
I love babies, kittens and puppies but really don’t ever want to see them in a plane, restaurant or office. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/23 "2015-09-03T13:21:10Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > They like big eggs. And they cannot lie, You other birdies can’t deny, That when an egg rolls by in an itty bitty nest and an oblong thing in your crest you get young… > [@grude](#): > > What is scary about a baby?😕 I mean it is absolutely incapable of harming you. Neither can most spiders, but some people just don’t like them. In addition to the points raised by **Martian** , there are socio-cultural factors. Parents eager for you to hold their kid and coo. Even if you don’t give a hoot about babies, they still tend to stare at you expectantly. Not being effusive enough is a subtle cultural faux pas. [I think Seinfeld captured it pretty well](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pQmeIqsvSg). ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/24 "2015-09-03T14:22:07Z")
> [@phantom\_lamb](#): > > Shouldn’t we as a species be wired to view our human infants as the most precious and sacrifice-worthy of things? That’s going to severely curtail your ability to commit infanticide, whether for birth control or reproductive exclusivity insurance. Or Baal appeasement, I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/25 "2015-09-03T14:24:28Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > And they cannot lie, > You other birdies can’t deny, > That when an egg rolls by in an itty bitty nest > and an oblong thing in your crest > you get young… Kudos. ---
**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, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/26 "2015-09-03T15:17:52Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > 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. How do you figure? I love babies, but that doesn’t mean I think YOU should have one, or should be permitted access to mine. Hell, if you have any doubts about loving babies, I don’t want you to have any responsibility for mine whatsodamnever. ---
**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, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/27 "2015-09-03T17:34:08Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > How do you figure? > > I love babies, but that doesn’t mean I think YOU should have one, or should be permitted access to mine. Hell, if you have any doubts about loving babies, I don’t want you to have any responsibility for mine whatsodamnever. Hey, I like babies as much as you do - and not just my own, either. It’s just that I’ve encountered plenty of “childfree” people here on the Dope (albeit not so much in real life), and I believe them when they say that that attitude exists. ---
**Author:** ![JcWoman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jcwoman/32/2889_2.png) [@JcWoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JcWoman)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/28 "2015-09-03T17:47:11Z")
> [@harmonicamoon](#): > > 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. The response to heinous things like that happening to an animal is similar to the response if it happened to a human child. Both are viewed as innocent and unable to defend themselves from brutality. The victims of the drug war could theoretically defend themselves or get themselves out of the situation. Children and animals live at the whim of those around them. It’s not entirely rational, but humans have a strong impulse to protect the defenseless. On topic, count me as another animal lover who thinks human babies are kind of ugly. Sort of larval or like panda babies before they grow fur. But show me a puppy or kitten, even newly born (yes, I’ve seen them) and my heart goes pop and I have a compulsion to gently tuck it under my chin. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/29 "2015-09-03T18:17:06Z")
Speaking of superrelease, it may be an evolutionary advantage – for the puppies and kittens. There are many examples of animals that somehow cause other animals to modify their behavior for their own purposes, and puppies and kittens that look neotenous could receive our attention to the preferences of those that don’t (even if it is not in preference to our own young as stated earlier.) ---
**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 4, 2015, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/30 "2015-09-04T04:48:58Z")
> [@grude](#): > > What is scary about a baby?😕 I mean it is absolutely incapable of harming you. Scary I guess is not really the right word. A [Xenomorph](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_%28creature_in_Alien_franchise%29)is scary. Babies make me feel self-conscious and uncomfortable and a little worried. They are completely harmless, but also completely helpless and vulnerable. And that is a combination which I cannot constantly not be aware of. It’s like someone walking into the room holding a big serving tray with a stack of priceless crystal teetering high on it. Everything must stop: movement, conversation, thinking etc., until it’s safely put away\*!\* I also do not have a strong, innate reaction to even _just the image of a baby_ that most seem to. If I need cheering up I’ll watch YouTube videos of kittens & puppies all day long and instantly react extremely positive to them. A picture or video of a baby, even a familiar friend’s one, will not do this very much at all. It won’t make me feel worried like above, but it won’t cheer me up either. Needless to say (and thankfully) I have never had the slightest desire to have children. Quite the opposite… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/31 "2015-09-04T07:37:45Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > 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. This is the first thing I thought of: If you graph gestation period vs. average size among mammals, humans “should” be born at around 10 1/2 months – but we’re born earlier, because otherwise our fat heads would kill mommy. So, human babies look like aliens until they’re several months old (I’d say around half a year, personally). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Angry\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b38774/32.png) [@The\_Angry\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Angry_Badger)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/32 "2015-09-04T12:37:37Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > Scary I guess is not really the right word. A [Xenomorph](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_%28creature_in_Alien_franchise%29)is scary. Babies make me feel self-conscious and uncomfortable and a little worried. They are completely harmless, but also completely helpless and vulnerable. And that is a combination which I cannot constantly not be aware of. It’s like someone walking into the room holding a big serving tray with a stack of priceless crystal teetering high on it. Everything must stop: movement, conversation, thinking etc., until it’s safely put away\*!\* > > I also do not have a strong, innate reaction to even _just the image of a baby_ that most seem to. If I need cheering up I’ll watch YouTube videos of kittens & puppies all day long and instantly react extremely positive to them. A picture or video of a baby, even a familiar friend’s one, will not do this very much at all. It won’t make me feel worried like above, but it won’t cheer me up either. > > Needless to say (and thankfully) I have never had the slightest desire to have children. Quite the opposite… 😃 That is pretty much me all over. As far as I’m concerned, babies are just these weird alien/potato things that demand everyone’s attention, are easy to break and contribute nothing beyond annoying cries and disgusting smells. I honestly can’t understand what anyone sees in them, never mind why anyone would actually want one of their own.\* I have literally no paternal instincts at all. I think [this sort of situation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQw6PoHQPco) is one of my greatest fears with babies - I really don’t know how to deal with them at all. When there is a baby in the room, there’s always this worry that the parent will try and shove it in my arms and make me play with it (what’s all that about, anyway? If I’ve got, say, a new laptop, I don’t pass it around the room and insist everyone has a go on it. What makes babies different?). \*At the same time, I’m grateful that not everyone thinks like me. Babies are kind of important for the future of the species, I guess. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/33 "2015-09-04T17:34:07Z")
> [@The\_Angry\_Badger](#): > > there’s always this worry that the parent will try and shove it in my arms and make me play with it (what’s all that about, anyway? If I’ve got, say, a new laptop, I don’t pass it around the room and insist everyone has a go on it. What makes babies different?). I have never done that and I had a baby, but god strange women would think nothing of coming up and oohing and awwing and touching or asking to hold him in public. Even as a toddler this went on, it only tapered off in the last couple years(he is five now). If you’re single borrow someone’s baby, chick magnet. ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/34 "2015-09-04T22:55:16Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > 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. I just want to say that I am with you 150% on this. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/35 "2015-09-04T23:03:02Z")
> [@Itself](#): > > Why does it have to have an evolutionary basis? Babies are weird and blobby and look like Winston Churchill. Relatively hairless and gooey as well. ---
**Author:** ![Pandect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Pandect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pandect)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/36 "2015-09-04T23:07:47Z")
I see lots of responses about kitten and puppies, but really, BABY ELEPHANTS. Have you seen those things? They are the cutest darned baby animals on the planet (of course, it helps that elephant gestation is almost 2 years so by the time they come out they’re little adults). If you haven’t already, you should just youtube some baby elephant videos. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/37 "2015-09-04T23:28:42Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Relatively hairless and gooey as well. What did you think he meant by ‘look like Winston Churchill’? (There’s your image for the day.) Add me to the list of people who think the OP is assuming facts not in evidence…to harmonicamoon’s post… That isn’t a case of privileging animals over humans, so much as the principle of ‘one death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic’ (possibly apocryphally attributed to Stalin, likely cribbed Erich Maria Remarque in either case). ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2015, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/38 "2015-09-09T00:56:01Z")
> [@grude](#): > > What is scary about a baby?😕 I mean it is absolutely incapable of harming you. They can suddenly decide to make really loud unpleasant noises. ---
**Author:** ![Wolf333](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf333/32/3460_2.png) [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2015, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/39 "2015-09-09T02:02:00Z")
> [@Celyn](#): > > They can suddenly decide to make really loud unpleasant noises. Just like Churchill. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2015, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-so-many-people-finding-baby-animals-cuter-than-human-babies/729760/40 "2015-09-09T02:16:40Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > 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. I’ve seen lots of newborns and they totally make me melt, with their mushed in little faces, and scrunched up eyes, and weird little mewling noises. Any species, but I’m most susceptible to dogs. Occasionally I melt for tiny humans, but not often. Still, they don’t lack for Melters. Maybe having too many people want to nurture a given baby would be disruptive - even now great aunts can get pretty aggressive when there’s a newborn around. The large eyes are enough to trigger the “don’t hurt it” response, but there is something more personal that triggers the Melt. [Previous 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=1) [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=3)