You know that feeling when you see a tiny baby and they’re just so adorable you want to gobble up their teeny little fingers and toes? Well, apparently there’s a scientific reason you feel that way.
Obviously you don’t really want to bite/eat the little human. That would be terrifying.
But they’re just so cute and small you can’t help feeling like…
A scientific study concluded that this “social biting” is triggered by the smell of a newborn and produces a rush of the happy hormone dopamine similar to when we get our hands on, say, a particularly tasty slice of cake.
So, like the cake, we just want to gobble them up.
It’s also thought that this behaviour comes from evolution, as this affectionate nuzzling and nibbling is seen throughout the animal kingdom.
One example is Old World Monkeys who line up to meet a new baby and nuzzle the infant (couldn’t find any monkeys so here are lions doing a similar thing).
The study found that the nuzzling and biting is sparked by strong emotions, like love for a little baby, and shows that people who have the outlet (like the nuzzling) deal with and recover better from those strong emotions.
So get out there and nuzzle, cuddle and nibble some adorable babies. Preferably ones you know.
