Imagine that you're another uroplatus gecko, and you're walking along, minding your own business but interested in the world around you. This gecko comes into your vast field of vision, and you think, "Hello! Let's do it!"
Heh, no. Gecko parents don't interact with their young except perhaps to eat them, and geckos don't have big eyes to appear young, they have big eyes to see in the dark. Humans might think they're seeing neoteny in geckos, but they're not.
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13 comments:
That is one ugly cat.
I would like someone to do that blurry makeup on it.
Hahahaha trad guy!
Soon to be featured in a GEICO commercial.
Heh, heh, the uroplatus matches the carpet.
The gecko looks like a Keane waif.
Why are we sensitive to big eyes?
Imagine that you're another uroplatus gecko, and you're walking along, minding your own business but interested in the world around you. This gecko comes into your vast field of vision, and you think, "Hello! Let's do it!"
"So babies are born with the traits that we find cute, or else we've adapted to find cute the traits that babies possess. Humans are born with their eyes already the size they will be when they are adults, so big eyes relative to face, check. Babies' brains are already nearly fully grown as well which makes their heads are enormous, so big heads, check. Their limbs are small and flabby and they lack coordination; small rounded body, check. Big cheeks, check. And so on. These traits may last in some form or fashion into about the tween years, when kids no longer need the kind of adult supervision they once did and exit the stage of cuteness."
Key word: Neoteny.
Too many words too early. Some babies must be born with the OED inserted in the womb.
The video would be better if said gecko suddenly opened its mouth to bare 4-inch fangs, and bit off the holder's hand.
Ann Althouse said...
Key word: Neoteny.
Heh, no. Gecko parents don't interact with their young except perhaps to eat them, and geckos don't have big eyes to appear young, they have big eyes to see in the dark. Humans might think they're seeing neoteny in geckos, but they're not.
Looking out, looking in, people want to believe.
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