Thread by @realscientists

While we are on looks, let’s talk cute animals and #kawaii 😍 Without cheating, who’d like to suggest what features we perceive as CUTE in animals? (Yep, we have scienced this) #animalwelfare #science

Great work from @DogSpies @DogUmwelt showed us that ‘baby schema’ of round head, large wider-spaced eyes with coloured irises & a mouth approximating a smile rang our human-sees-cute bells. Other research by @AnthroZooRG shows we perceive cute dogs to have desirable personalities

Interesting side note, children have been shown to perceive snarling dogs as smiling and friendly. They are terrible at reading dog behaviour cues unless we actively teach them. Most dog attacks happen to children under 7yo, often a dog known to them.