Why Do Puppies Look So Cute?

“Why do puppies look so cute?”

Good question, Hope!

Most of us can’t help ourselves when we see a fluffy kitten or tiny puppy. We might ooh and ahh and have a strong urge to hold, pet, and love on the tiny creature. Why do we have this reaction?

An Austrian zoologist (scientist who studies animals) named Konrad Lorenz studied different animals to determine which traits people consider cute. He found that a cute animal usually has round cheeks, large eyes, a button nose, a large head compared to its body, and a round body.1

Many studies show that when human adults see these cute traits in human babies, they feel things like love, protectiveness, and compassion. But why do we also feel these emotions when we see an animal baby?

Evolutionists think we are attracted to animal babies because they look like human babies, which they think is because we all evolved from a common ancestor.2 But as Christians, we know God created us distinct from animals when he made us on day six of creation week. The similarity we see between cute animal babies and cute human babies exists because both humans and animals were created by the same God.

Perhaps God created animals with the same cute traits as humans so we could better live out the mandate he gave us in Genesis 1:28: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

God gave humans dominion (authority to rule or lead) over all the animals. Since God created creatures with cute traits that capture our attention and cause us to feel compassionate toward and protective of them, we are more likely to manage them well.

The next time you squeal over a cute puppy, remember that God created you to care for it well!

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Footnotes

1. Melanie Glocker, Daniel Langleben, Kosha Ruparel, James Loughead, Ruben Gur, and Norbert Sachser, “Baby Schema in Infant Faces Induces Cuteness Perception and Motivation for Caretaking in Adults,” Ethology 115, no. 3 (March 2009): 257–263, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.2008.01603.x.
2. Tom Hennigan, “The Science of Adorable,” Answers Magazine 11, no. 4 (2016): 54–60, https://answersingenesis.org/animals/science-adorable/.