Abstract
Human–animal relationships have long been the subject of controversy because they are shaped by several cultural, inter-individual, and evolutionary factors. Understanding these relationships, however, is important to optimize conservation efforts. There is agreement that perceived similarity between animals and humans is associated with more positive attitudes. The human–animal similarity could be caused by phylogenetic closeness. We hypothesized that the bipedal posture of an animal may be perceived as a cue of phenotypic similarity with humans. We examined this topic by comparing perceived cuteness, fear, and willingness to protect animals differing in body posture, body size, and phylogenetic closeness with humans on a sample ofN= 349 Slovak participants. We found that the bipedal posture enhanced perceived cuteness, but this effect was most pronounced in small-bodied animals, particularly those with direct eye contact. Phylogenetically close and small-bodied species (e.g., small mammals) received greater conservation support than phylogenetically distant species (e.g., invertebrates). However, anthropomorphic-looking animals received greater conservation support, suggesting that pictures of animals that more closely resemble humans can be used in conservation campaigns.
Highlights
We are not seeing animals as animals, but merely as reflections of ourselves, and if the mirror distorts too badly, we either bend it into shape or discard it.Morris (1969, p. 200) The complexity of human–animal relationships is the subject of controversy (Mullin, 1999) because animal roles in human lives are multidimensional (Kellert, 1980, 1983, 1993; Serpell, 2004)
High cuteness scores were associated with animals in bipedal posture that are phylogenetically closer to humans
Our results showed that people were willing to protect small animals (Figure 5C) and that small quadrupedals were evaluated with slightly higher protection scores than small bipedals (Figure 2B)
Summary
We are not seeing animals as animals, but merely as reflections of ourselves, and if the mirror distorts too badly, we either bend it into shape or discard it.Morris (1969, p. 200) The complexity of human–animal relationships is the subject of controversy (Mullin, 1999) because animal roles in human lives are multidimensional (Kellert, 1980, 1983, 1993; Serpell, 2004). 200) The complexity of human–animal relationships is the subject of controversy (Mullin, 1999) because animal roles in human lives are multidimensional (Kellert, 1980, 1983, 1993; Serpell, 2004). Since the beginning of the Neolithic era, many animals have been treated as companions (Podberscek et al, 2005), with others being agricultural pests (Ordish, 1976). The enormous diversity of animal shapes, sizes, and behaviors heavily contributes to human. Animals With Bipedal Posture evaluations of them (Serpell, 2004). Human preferences are of interest to conservationists because the low popularity of an animal, regardless of why it occurs, erodes public support for its conservation (Kellert, 1985; Houston et al, 2010; MacFarlane and Rocha, 2020)
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