Cute or creepy: Why humans love some species, loathe others - Phys.org
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Cute or creepy: Why humans love some
species, loathe others
29 April 2019, by Amélie Bottollier-Depois
"One of the biggest factors is 'cuteness': physical
characteristics such as big eyes and soft features
that elicit our parental instincts because they
remind us of human infants," Hal Herzog, emeritus
professor at West Carolina University's Department
of Psychology, told AFP.
An expert in human-animal relationships, Herzog
said the dark rings around pandas' eyes triggered
humans nurturing instincts.
"Compare that to the Chinese giant salamander,"
he said. "Google it. It looks like a six-foot-long,
150-pound bag of brown slime with beady little
Size, intelligence, behaviour, rarity, how closely an eyes."
animal resembles the human form all play a part in our
reaction to various endangered creatures
The Chinese giant salamander, the largest
amphibian in the world, is not cute.
Weighing as much as an adult human, it has slimy
brown skin, a giant mouth curled to a gormless
grin, and puny, mistrustful eyes.
It is also one of the world's most endangered
species.
And yet, unlike its compatriot the giant panda, the
giant salamander rarely makes the news. The Chinese giant salamander is the world's largest
amphibian and is critically endangered
Why do some animals strike a chord with humans,
prompting them to donate millions towards their
conservation, while others draw little more than
disgust? The salamanders are a vital part of their
ecosystem, just as worms are essential to soil
And is a sad-eyed panda really worth saving more health around the steams and lakes they live
than a slimy salamander? in—which is just about everywhere.
Size, intelligence, behaviour, rarity, how closely an Yet, like maggots, rats and snakes, the main
animal resembles the human form—all play a part in instinct they inspire in humans is revulsion.
our reaction to various endangered creatures.
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'Learned' disgust Whereas the movie "Free Willy" prompted a wave of
sympathy for the protection of endangered orcas,
According to Graham Davey, a specialist in phobias "Arachnophobia" hardly helped spiders' cause.
from the University of Sussex's School of
Psychology, we learn to revile certain creatures at a See also: "Jaws" for sharks.
young age.
Even the depiction of fictional creatures can have a
"Disgust is a learned emotion. Babies are not born knock-on effect on public perception towards
with it... it's probably transmitted socially, culturally certain animals.
and within families," he said.
Take the main being in "Alien", for example.
Some animals are reviled due to their resemblance
to "primary disgusting things" such as mucus or "Seeing the one from the first film that had that
faeces, Davey said, while others are mucus-y drawl dripping from the alien's mouth...
perceived—rightly or wrongly—to pose a direct sensitises people to disgusting things," Davey said.
danger to the beholder.
Nor is it just the public at large who are liable to
"In terms of threat to humankind, disease and "speciesism", or discrimination against other
illness are bigger than being attacked by an species in favour of our own.
animal," he said.
A study in 2017 found a strong correlation between
This might explain why most of us don't find lions society's preferred animals and those most studied
and bears repellant—they are covered with the in scientific research.
same type of soft fur that coat cuddly toys for
children, even if it might be better to avoid one in "Maybe that's because it's easier to get money" to
real life. study well-known animals, said Frederic Legendre,
a researcher at France's National History Museum.
An orca by any other name
And popular species make money in return,
As with most things, popular culture has a huge according to Christo Fabricius from WWF—a
effect on how society perceives animals. conservation group indelibly linked to its panda
logo.
"Reptiles, for example, are not very marketable," he
said.
Disgust—of animals and other things—is a learned emotion
mostly likely transmitted socially, culturally and within
families. Babies are not born with it.
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People think of the blockbuster "Jaws" film when they see
great white sharks
'Protect species, protect habitat'
Not that favouring certain cute or charismatic
species is necessarily a bad thing for conservation.
"When we protect an iconic species, we protect
their habitat and therefore all the organisms within it
also benefit," said Legendre.
But such species can become a victim of their own
popularity.
One recent study suggested that a "virtual"
presence of wild animals such as elephants and
tigers—be that on computer screens, T-shirts or in
children's books—can fool people into thinking they
are more common in the wild than they really are.
The populations of most megafauna—from hippos to
giraffes and gorillas—remain in peril.
Then there's the risk of poaching.
The rarer the species "the more value they provide
for traditional medicine, for trophy hunting, and
therefore they are poached more often," said
Franck Courchamp, an ecologist at France's
National Centre for Scientific Research.
So the next time you see a picture of a Giant
Chinese Salamander, remember that there's more
to saving Earth's wild species than looks.
© 2019 AFP
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