The Science of Adorable

How did you respond the
last time you saw an adorable
bunny, a rambunctious
kitty, a big-eyed bear cub, or
a delightful puppy? Your warm feelings
are no accident. Scientists are
discovering that everyone (or nearly
everyone) has them.

Disney cartoonists have capitalized
on cute traits to create memorable
characters like Bambi, Dumbo, and
Pluto. They work across cultures and
continents, too.

Meanwhile, the pet industry is
booming. Other organizations are dedicated
entirely to rescuing abused animals.
Commercials tug at our heart-strings
and provoke outrage simply by
showing a needy animal.

No wonder conservation organizations
pick the cutest animals as their
flagship. Just show us an adorable
endangered species like a giant panda,
and we’ll support the cause.

Have you ever wondered why we
find certain animals so adorable?
Interestingly, this question has
spurred much curiosity in both the
creation and evolution communities.
The evolutionist wonders what survival
benefits “adorable” imparts to an
organism. A creationist wonders if the
Creator intentionally included cute in
His plan for creation.

Cuteness in the Eye of the Evolutionary Beholder

Konrad Lorenz, an Austrian zoologist
and a founding father of the science of
animal behavior, is credited with initially
investigating this cute question.
He studied various animals and identified
the traits that are considered cute.
To be cute means the adorable creature
has a large head compared to its body,
round cheeks, a round body, large eyes
below the center of its head, a protruding forehead, and a soft
body surface. He called these traits kindchenschema, translated
“baby schema”—or, in lay terms, cute as a button.

Human responses to cute are unlike
animal responses . . . but why?

Studies as recent as 2016 indicate that when human adults
see adorable traits in human babies, they express positive
emotions that include love, tenderness, protectiveness,
improved social relations, pleasure, decreased aggression,
and increased empathy and compassion.

Do animals, like monkeys, show this behavior? Studies
are inconclusive, but lean toward a negative answer.

Human response to cute is unlike animal responses
because we feel an attraction and desire to protect beyond
our own kind and include animals. The cute traits we see
in our own babies are also characteristics of many animal
babies. Studies show that when people observe cute animals,
activity increases in the thinking and decision-making part
of the brain. When shown pictures of animals needing care
at birth versus animals that don’t need care, people think
animals needing care are cuter. Similar to human babies,
cute animal babies invoke deep emotions of love, care,
empathy, protection, and pleasure in human adults.

Interestingly, interacting with animals causes a person to
produce a hormone called oxytocin, which results in a happy
response and an increased level of trust. This hormone also
better prepares the body for healing and new
cell growth.

In a 2012 research paper published in the
Public Library of Science (PLOS), researchers
reported three studies that tested how cute
images affected people’s job performance.
The results suggest that adorable images
produce positive emotions, which lead to increased mental
focus and more careful behavior. In other words, viewing
cute images may trigger caring and careful behavior, not
only towards animals but also for driving and office work.

Evolutionists propose two ideas to explain our attraction
to both human and animal babies. The first says we are
attracted because baby animals look like baby humans and
we have been evolutionarily hardwired to be attracted to
baby humans. Protection of our own is crucial for our persistence
and survival. The other thought is that our empathy
toward animal babies allows us to bond better with
them, and this bonding gives us some kind of evolutionary
advantage, though the reason for this advantage is unclear.

But is there more to adorable than meets the evolutionary eye?

Cuteness and the Attributes of the Creator

When you compare humans with many animals, especially
mammals, they really share a lot in common. Evolutionists
argue that this high degree of similarity suggests
they all came from a single, universal common ancestor. Creationists interpret similarity as evidence of a single
common Designer. But why did God create similarity between humans and animals at all? Why not make humans
completely different from the animal kingdom, especially
mammals like monkeys and black bears?

In Genesis 1:28 God blessed His image bearers and told
them to “be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue
it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of
the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Is it possible that God created similarity in order to facilitate
our dominion mandate (God’s command that we rule
His creation)?

We are more apt to manage creation
and its creatures wisely if their
traits draw our attention and
stimulate our care and protection.

Think about your closest friends for a moment. Don’t we
tend to develop deeper relationships with people who have
many things in common with us? Wouldn’t our call to stewardship
be easier if we ruled creatures that had many things
in common with us? Surely we are more apt to manage
creation and its creatures wisely if their
traits draw our attention and stimulate our
care and protection.

The above suggests that God designed
differing degrees of similarity and cuteness
to facilitate our relationships with
organisms under our care. This similarity
has spurred humanity to increase our
general knowledge of the world, and it has
motivated medical researchers to understand
the detailed biology of animals that have greater similarities
with humans, such as mice and pigs, to improve the
health and well-being of both people and animals.

Being relational is consistent with God’s own attributes.
God is infinitely relational and loving because loving relationships
characterize the Persons of the Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit. Furthermore, Romans 1:20
suggests that God designed the world
and His creatures as a physical illustration
of His invisible attributes. Since
the capacity for personal relationship is
one of those attributes, we should see
it manifest in varying degrees throughout
creation and not just in humans.

Let us go deeper with this idea.
When early theologians were trying to
work out the meaning of one God who
is called Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
they noticed that each designation
referred to God, but within the one
God were differences among the three.
The word they chose to differentiate
them was person. They concluded the
best way to explain the Trinity was
that three persons compose one God.

A Google search for the word person will reveal many of the definitions proposed by those theologians. Characteristics of a person
include, but are not limited to, being unique, active, intelligent,
willful, feeling, thinking, problem-solving, distinguishing,
remembering, and relational. God has all of these qualities,
and many more, in perfect and wonderful ways.

Everyone would agree that people have these qualities
in finite ways, but do animals have any of them? Biological
research has shown some animals do exhibit several personal
and relational attributes to varying degrees. Indeed,
every creature has unique characteristics—even among
lowly spiders, which make their webs so distinctly that it is
possible to identify individual spiders from their webs! Pet
owners can testify to the individuality of each pet; they’re
all different, whether dogs, gerbils, birds, or fish.

Could God have also illustrated many of His attributes,
to varying degrees, throughout the animal kingdom? Is it
possible that humans can have relationships with animals,
not only because they manifest similar traits that make
them adorable, but also because they have individuality?
What does it mean when we say our pets have
“personality”?
It doesn’t mean they have “personhood” in a legal
sense, with rights before the law. But it does allude
to the unique combination of traits that makes each
one special. Every single creature glorifies God in a
way that no other creature can; each has a special
purpose in God’s larger plan (Psalm 148:10–13). And we are
called to care for His creation, just as He cares, including His
care for the sparrows and lilies (Matthew 6:26–30).

Could we even have relationships with animals if they
did not have traits that we can relate to? Naturalists like me,
who have enjoyed getting to know all sorts of “wild” animals
over the years, including black bears, know that each
one is a unique individual with varying degrees of intelligence,
behavior, emotion, cuteness, and relational qualities.

Just ask any farmer, who knows every cow in his herd by
name—even if he has hundreds of cattle. He can tell you
every individual’s quirky habits and preferences. The same
goes for shepherds; for zookeepers who care for big cats,
apes, elephants, flamingos, or snakes; and for field biologists
who study birds, ants, or spiders!

If every animal has varying but lesser degrees of some
attributes that we can relate to, combined with kindchenschema,
this combination could greatly facilitate our dominion
mandate.

The Human-Animal Connection: Glory to God

Medical researchers are growing to understand the value
and importance of animals in helping people with disabilities
and severe emotional and spiritual trauma. More and
more, therapists assign service dogs to people who struggle
with depression. I’ve seen many examples of the power of
these bonds to comfort, aid, and heal.
Actually, both parties benefit. For
example, I have seen a dog help a soldier
avoid a panic attack by giving him hugs
and kisses. In return, the soldier takes
care of the dog physically and emotionally;
dogs are social animals by design
and benefit from healthy relationships.
This is just one of many examples
where trained animals enhance the
emotional and physical health of both
people and animals.
I know about an abused horse named
Comet that experienced emotional healing
through careful handling by believers
in Jesus Christ. This same horse now
provides equine therapy for girls who
have suffered abuse and addiction, in a
Christ-centered environment.

One girl in particular has been
especially touched by this horse. The
first day they met, the horse did not
approach any other girl but made a
beeline to her. There seemed to be an
immediate understanding between the
two and they formed emotional bonds.
This horse is a bridge that will eventually
help this girl trust people again.
At the same time, this formerly abused
horse has learned to trust and help
hurting people.

The ultimate goal for the girl is a
renewed and transformed mind, as the
Spirit of God uses all of these mechanisms
to bring her into a wholesome
relationship with Him. If the horse
were not created to possess varying
degrees of cuteness and similarity with
us, would it be possible for humans to
care for, protect, and bring healing to
the horse? Alternatively, if these traits
were not present in the horse, would it
be possible for image bearers to use the
horse as a therapeutic bridge toward
emotional and spiritual healing for
another human being?

Cute: More Than a Happy Feeling

As Christians, we know cuteness
did not arise to enhance our survival
as a human race. Our God is the Creator
and Sustainer of His creatures—not random natural processes.

If God made creation to be a physical
illustration of His invisible attributes,
then part of His higher purpose was
to create varying degrees of personality
traits in both humans and animals.
These traits point to a perfect Being
who possesses all of them and much
more. By recognizing reflections of His
attributes in creation, our gaze is redirected
to His perfection, so that we may
give Him all glory, honor, and praise.

Research suggests that the Lord had
a higher purpose for cuteness, too.
He placed it into both animals and
humans to stimulate human emotions
of love, care, and protectiveness. He
also gave animals, especially mammals,
many other traits in common with humans. This similarity
and cuteness facilitates our relationships with the
creation that God wants us to care for, as we exercise our
dominion mandate.

Research suggests that God had
a higher purpose for cuteness.

This care of animals takes many forms. It drives us to
care for our pets and animals on our property. It also motivates
many of us with a more wide-reaching goal, to promote
conservation efforts around the planet, as we steward the
earth’s resources and protect animals on the brink of extinction.
Others even make a career of training animals as vehicles
of emotional and spiritual healing and companionship
for fellow humans.

We should recognize that these activities are just small
reminders of the greatest task of all. The Creator wants us
to experience the grace and forgiveness of Jesus our Lord,
the Son of God and Creator of the world, as we enter into a
relationship with Him. He has a purpose for us to accomplish,
both small and great, “for we are His handiwork, created
in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared
in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10, NIV).

https://answersingenesis.org/animals/science-adorable/ This article originally appeared on answersingenesis.org

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