Even killer whales have their cute moments, as this photo of a mother and son together proves. This year, we learned that the prolonged life spans of killer whale moms and human mothers is due, in part, to caring for offspring -- especially sons. Through this process, evolution favors females that live longer after their menopause. Yet another mother and baby, this time orangutans, were captured in a photo this year.
As for killer whales also known as orcas , orangutan mothers dote over their offspring. In May, a fishing cat mother gave birth to a pair of kittens. Fishing cats in the wild are endangered and are native to South and Southeast Asia. The cats live near water, such as freshwater marshes and rivers.
This baby dama gazelle, which entered the world in , has evolved for life in the desert. As adults, dama gazelles grow incredibly long legs and can run very fast.
They also sport thick horns. Their diet includes grasses, leaves, shoots and fruits. This young Savannah sparrow, snapped in , has a short tail and a tiny head.
It is a common songbird in North America, where it can be heard in farm fields and grasslands tweeting a loud, insect-sounding song. Aside from their diminutive size and slithery cuteness, the snakes charmed zookeepers because the keepers had spent four years trying to breed this rare species.
Tentacled snakes are native to Southeast Asian lakes and rice paddies. Sean Twiss of Durham University, who worked on the study, said, "In either resting or disturbed situations, seal mums behaved in very individual ways, some showing high levels of maternal attentiveness, others showing low levels. A plethora of great giant panda pics came our way in We already have shown you one, but could not resist yet another. Here, giant panda cub Xiao Liwu meaning "Little Gift" stretches out and shows his belly while animal care staff check him over during an exam at the San Diego Zoo.
Baby animals likely have been cute since the beginning of critter time on this planet. Cuteness makes them more appealing to adults, helping to ensure their care. We cannot show you a photo of a baby dinosaur, but we can show you this handprint of the baby dinosaur Massospondylus rom a nesting site in South Africa. History Magazine These 3,year-old giants watched over the cemeteries of Sardinia. Science Coronavirus Coverage What families can do now that kids are getting the vaccine.
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How viruses shape our world. The era of greyhound racing in the U. See how people have imagined life on Mars through history. See More. For some reason, though, our species opts to rear young anyway.
The reason, evolutionary psychologists say, is that, over time, we've learned to find the physical and behavioral traits of babies irresistible. Big eyes, round heads, spastic movements, strange vocalizations, little ears and noses and toes--okay, you've got me kiddo.
You want the next 18 years of my life? Natural selection has made me helpless against your charms. We feel a similar affection towards animals, the theory concludes, to the extent they possess these heartstrings-tugging attributes. In other words, there is a sort of spillover effect. Initially, the above seems perfectly plausible. Toss in some hi-tech data showing similar neuronal responses to pictures of babies we think are cute and pictures of koalas we think are cute, and we might think the account all but impervious to criticism.
But transposing the intricacies of human psychology into the evolutionary framework is a notoriously difficult enterprise.
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