Cuteness

Yesterday's duckling shares his little pond with this pair of Painted Turtles. Looking at yesterday's duckling and today's turtles raises the old question of the nature of beauty or, perhaps in this case, the nature of cuteness. Why is the duckling cute and the turtles are decidedly not cute? These are all just animals looking like they are supposed to look after all but why is the duckling so appealing in comparison with the turtles? It's not just age - baby turtles are only slightly cuter than adults. But I suspect that age has a lot to do with it in many cases. Who can resist a kitten? Or a puppy? But the question remains as to why a kitten or puppy is so attractive and a young centipede is not.