[Animal's] How does the cuteness quotient play out in the animal community?

[ʟᴜᴄɪ፝֟ꜰᴇʀ]

It’s a weapon that has been used since time immemorial by nearly every animal species including us, with devastating effect. Animals have used it on their own kind — and even on us, and we fall victim to it nearly every single time. And there’s a very simple reason why — it has survival value.

It’s the terrible “cuteness” bomb, which can reduce leathery boors to warm globs of sweet goo. The moment they confront a toothless, gurgling baby, extending its chubby arms towards them, its eyes enormous, its smile innocent, the deed is done! It needn’t be a human baby — a puppy or a kitten or an orangutan, bunny or tiger cub will do just as well, though maybe the line could be drawn at naked mole rat babies! If this is the effect that the C-bomb can have on iron men, you can imagine what it does to inherently tender-hearted women? Sure there are people who cringe at the mention of the “C” word and researchers working in animal labs who try to blank out its effects by giving their subjects hard cold numbers instead of names, as they conduct some of their experiments.

Some say that we, human beings, recognise cuteness from around the age of three. Through our social interactions with parents and society around us, we learn to recognise what is thought to be cute and what is not. That’s why your one-year-old toddler will happily put a slug into her mouth — not knowing that it is let us say “un-cute” (and probably tastes horrible), while your nine-year old will scream at the sight of one! So, it seems to be, at least among the baby fraternity, survival of the cutest. But I’m still not too sure if the cuteness bomb works as well in the animal community. Does a tigress favour the cutest in her litter, or simply the fittest? Usually, the runt in the litter is, if anything, cuter than its big bully siblings and evokes the most empathy because it is more helpless. But a tiger mom might just ignore her wobbly little weakling, sensing its chances of survival are minimal. Yet, watch a tiger mom lovingly lick her tiny cubs and you’ll begin to wonder again.

Like a nuclear device there are two distinct hard-wired effects the cuteness bomb has when it detonates. The first is instant — the need to protect the helpless squalling baby (animal or human) which is making those huge bug eyes at you, to take it into your arms and swear to protect it with your life. The second is the fallout — you begin to think about caring for the squalling, peeing, pooping, drooling, sleeping, gurgling tiny tot on a long-term basis. All of which spells parenting.