What are little boys and girls made from …”? The answer is lobsters, alligators, sticklebacks, and lobsters for boys. For girls, miniature pigs, ponies and cats for the boys. In the biggest ever collection of information on animal passions and fears, the YouGov survey drew 190,000 responses. The most loved animals in Britain are dogs, tigers, and elephants. Spiders, eels and millipedes are the least popular. The most popular animals that men like are those which have been compared to the rest of Britain. Z scores are a way of calculating the statistical significance of the differences among the two groups. Image: YouGov. Snails and dogs are more popular with women than their counterparts. The surprising thing was the differences in preference between men and women. The Victorian nursery rhyme about dogs was incorrect. Statistics show that dogs and snails have a higher popularity among women than their male counterparts. Afflictive versus cute In general, women will be drawn to beautiful, exotic, and adorable animals more than men. Men, however, are inclined to sympathize with creepy, dangerous, or heroic creatures. The most male animals are lobsters and alligators, and females prefer small pigs or cats. YouGov stated that these correlations were significant. The z-score is a statistic measuring the strength of correlations. For example, the highest number of male animals has a score of more than 4, while the lowest scoring female animal scores over 7. These are the types of animals women like the best in Britain. This does not necessarily mean that mini pigs and lobsters are more popular among women than they are among men. The data suggests that lobsters are more popular than the general population’s preferences. Males are especially fond of sharks, eagles, and piranhas – which are animals that have strong defensive capabilities. Only the Narwhal, a mammal that can only be identified as a male in the top 20 is the exception. Females were all mammals with the exception of the penguin and butterfly.
