Addicted to cats? The reason why cats are so popular is →

It is said that "it is fun to pet cats, and it is fun to pet cats all the time". So why are cats so popular? Is it because of their "beauty" or "personality"? Let's talk about it today.

01. Why are cats so popular?

First of all, beauty may be the main factor in cats' popularity. Of course, a relatively gentle personality is also a basic requirement for domesticating animals.

There is a term in biology called "Neoteny", also known as "neoteny". The general idea is that some organisms will maintain a relatively juvenile state physiologically during their growth and development. One of the great advantages of neoteny is that it can stimulate adults' "nurturing behavior" and thus gain more benefits.

A typical feature of cats is that their eyes are large in proportion to their face.

This is very consistent with the characteristics of human infants, where the eyes account for a large proportion of the body.

This style can easily stimulate people's petting behavior, so they like this cute animal with big eyes.

02. “Child-rearing behavior”

For humans, the behavior of raising young is very normal. Humans must like to raise young. If humans do not like to raise young, then species like newborn babies that lack any survival ability will face the risk of extinction.

In comparison, the tiger, which also belongs to the cat family, seems much cuter if you give it a big-eye special effect.

Even the big eyes in anime may have something to do with neoteny. Otherwise, if the eyes of anime characters are not well designed, it may trigger the "uncanny valley effect" and make people feel scary.

03. Gentleness is also essential

On this basis, personality is actually just another factor, and it is a choice that humans must make when domesticating animals. The first step is to eliminate those animals with very strong personalities, because these animals with very bad personalities are not suitable for domestication. Not only are they aggressive, they are also not adapted to the captive environment provided by humans. Therefore, if you want to domesticate them, you must take the docile route.

By the way, cats are smaller in size, which is also an advantage. Larger carnivores such as lions, tigers and leopards are not suitable.