The ability to care for creatures beyond our own species is not unique to humans, there have been many examples of other species caring for young who weren't of their species. And I think Koko, a non-human primate, became very attached to a cat, basically keeping a pet cat.
It is probably largely based on how general our care-taking instinct is. It must have developed fairly early into things, and I believe it is present in all mammals to some extent. And while it surely got tweaked in each species, it probably didn't get massively changed. So, the instinct we have is just modified from the early version when our ancestors were small rodent-like creatures. The key features it clues off of are fairly universal young mammal cues, and they even apply to some non-mammals.
Human babies are, as far as I am concerned, actually very bad examples of young. I believe it is because we have to have them so damn early into their development to allow for both big brains and the ability to walk upright. They are essentially born premature compared to other species. And I think this is part of why they're really not all that cute. Maternal hormones do seem to help though by magnifying the cuteness effect. I remember one friend commenting on how kittens are normally cute, but looking at them while pregnant was an even stronger effect.
It's not surprising that animals can play on the same drive. And I do think it is useful that they can.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2009-02-20 01:17 am (UTC)It is probably largely based on how general our care-taking instinct is. It must have developed fairly early into things, and I believe it is present in all mammals to some extent. And while it surely got tweaked in each species, it probably didn't get massively changed. So, the instinct we have is just modified from the early version when our ancestors were small rodent-like creatures. The key features it clues off of are fairly universal young mammal cues, and they even apply to some non-mammals.
Human babies are, as far as I am concerned, actually very bad examples of young. I believe it is because we have to have them so damn early into their development to allow for both big brains and the ability to walk upright. They are essentially born premature compared to other species. And I think this is part of why they're really not all that cute. Maternal hormones do seem to help though by magnifying the cuteness effect. I remember one friend commenting on how kittens are normally cute, but looking at them while pregnant was an even stronger effect.
It's not surprising that animals can play on the same drive. And I do think it is useful that they can.