There’s a solid reason why most people can agree on what makes an animal adorable. Our evolutionary background determines what we find cute, thus we pay attention to human infants.
Other animals have been affected by this, and most newborn animals of all types seem to catch our attention. The characteristics of a baby schema must be present in an animal in order for humans to find it attractive and shriek with excitement when we do.
These 10 animals take full use of a human’s instinct to adore newborns, whether it’s because of a disproportionately huge, round head or enormous eyes that captivate the heart.
10 Most Baby Mammals
People find virtually all young animals to be adorable in general, which is one of the ways that people have tamed animals over time. Consider one of the numerous species, the domesticated dog, Canis lupus familiaris, which evolved to thrive by passing on the genes that make them adorable. Seriously. Dogs made sure their progeny has all the qualities people value, capitalizing on humanity’s urge to love adorable things. They are little, with huge heads compared to their bodies and enormous eyes compared to their heads.
This pattern is almost universal among mammalian species, and those that don’t are frequently regarded as pests. For instance, newborn rats and mice often lack hair and are unable to open their eyes. This is true for the majority of birds and other animals that seldom cause people to shriek with excitement. It’s interesting to note that the concept of “cuteness” as it relates to infant animals has been well researched, with some studies indicating that young animals frequently rank higher in terms of the baby schema than the majority of human babies.
9 Slow Loris
One method toy companies leverage our inborn need for cuteness to get us to buy is whether you’ve ever seen those fuzzy dolls with absurdly huge eyes. The Slow loris is one of the creatures that doesn’t require any assistance in that regard. There are several species of Slow loris, yet they all have some characteristics in common that we all find to be endearing. The most noticeable of them are their protruding eyeballs, which were not developed to make them attractive to humans but rather as a modification to their nocturnal existence.
Slow lorises fit several criteria on the infant schema because of their short snout and nose and huge eyes. Most people who see them therefore find them to be charming, but despite their attractiveness, no one should touch these little monkeys. A Slow loris’ highly lethal bite is unusual among animals. It is produced when someone licks a sexual gland on their arm; this gland releases a liquid, which when combined with saliva, forms a dangerous substance. On stave off predators, they applied this material to their coats. Although slow lorises are adorable, they are a species that should be observed without being touched.
