Musing On Evolution

I used to not like dogs very much. Sure my parents owned a dog, and I had been known to pat or pet a dog on ocassion, but I wasn't very fond of them. It wasn't that I found them a nuisance, I just found them unecessary. Then I read an interesting report which showed that after dogs split from wolves, humans had been selecting traits in dogs for millions of years. In short, they have been engineered by natural selection to be our companions. This brought me to an interesting realization.

Because any trait that humans would find appealing would be more likely to survive, cuteness would also be selected for. In fact, being cute could be the totality of a certain dog breeds survival strategies. Puppies are especially vulnerable, which is why they are especially cute.

This has made me like dogs a great deal more. They are evolutionarily designed to aid us in our physical and emotional surivival. They are man's first great experiment in genetic modification. Man has made dog, and it is good. And cute.