Why is it so cute?

Ever thought why we gravitate to small creatures or why it is we go gaga over little people?

Standing at just 2ft 5in high, He Pingping, from China, has been officially named the smallest man in the world. In January 2007, Mr Pingping was invited to take part in a television programme in Tokyo, and has since become somewhat of an icon.

Following the death of 2ft 3in Nelson de la Rosa in 2006, a number of possible contenders came forward including Pingping for the title, and prior to the decision Channel 4 presenter Mark Dolan set out to find them.

At 6ft 5in Mark must of intimidated the little fella's, non-the less he firstly met a 16 year old boy called Khagendra Thapa Magar, who stands at only 2ft. Once of age, Magar, will be in contention for the overall world's smallest man title.

Watching Mark carry Magar in a plastic bag, (which he apparently likes to be carried in) made my cuteness barometer go through the roof and I was left asking a few questions - Why does this feel wrong? Why do we find little creatures/people so cute? Why is it that even grown men oh and ah at newborns, puppies, kittens and baby platypus?

So what causes us, even as infants, to go weak at the knees for cute and cuddly?

Well, according to leading scientists there are some basic human instincts which are key to these reactions.

Apparently it is a natural human response to find the vulnerable and innocent cute. Duhhh.

It is mother nature's way of protecting. As humans we obviously take the whole cute baby thing a lot further than naturally expected.

What then to the little people? Is it our fascination with vulnerable innocence which leads us to ohh and ahh over an adult, albeit a little one? In a way it's perverted, right? Lord knows there are whole websites devoted to Dwarf fetishes.

Although we may look with equal fascination at unusual people, small, tall, fat and thin, you never hear 'Oh how cute is that 9ft man'.

So it's back to the whole small cute thing again. I'm not convinced it's necessarily over vulnerability, but rather cuteness in proportions which turns us in a tizzy for small critters and small people. Perhaps as it's simply because babies, and infant animals are evenly proportioned, and thereby more aesthetically pleasing, that we swoon.
I'd be willing to bet that the world's smallest man/woman is the biggest draw to the Guinness book. After all, that's what we want really want to see, right?