We’ve known for centuries that man’s best friend is the dog - right? Not necessarily, according to a latest YouGov study, which found that lobsters were the preferred animals for men - when compared to the choices by women - followed by alligators, sticklebacks, sharks and eagles. For women, meanwhile, the results were a bit more timid - with miniature pigs, cats, ponies, donkeys and chinchillas making up the top five. Man's new best friend? Dogs may have once ruled the roost, but now according to a YouGov survey of people in the UK, men prefer lobsters as their favourite animal - when compared to female choices - which may be because they associate them with fine dining (picture of red reef lobster shown) The study involved a poll of 190,000 YouGov members in the UK, which the company says is ‘perhaps the largest dataset ever collected of people’s passions and phobias in the animal world’. Overall, when gender is not taken into account, the nation’s favourite animals are dogs, tigers, elephants, cats and dolphins. The least favoured are eels, millipedes and spiders. When male choices were compared to female choices, however, there was a surprising battle of the sexes on what the most popular animals were. The data showed that lobsters were the most popular animal among men when compared to those less liked by women, followed by alligators, sticklebacks and so on. For women, compared to men, it was miniature pigs at the top of the list, followed by cats and ponies. As for the most popular animals, the study found that things like dogs and snails were slightly more popular among women than men. Men were more likely to prefer 'heroic', 'aggressive' or 'creepy' animals, while women preferred 'cute', 'beautiful' and 'exotic' species. In the episode of The Simpsons titled Lisa Gets an 'A' (seventh episode of season 10), Homer Simpsons gets a pet lobster that he names Pinchy, and unfortunately ends up cooking him towards the end of the episode. While his actions seemed bizarre, did Homer actually predict that the animal was favoured by men? For women, when their choices were compared to men, their favourite animals were miniature pigs (shown), followed by cats, ponies, donkeys and chinchillas . ‘Animals with violent defensive abilities - sharks, eagles and piranhas - are particularly favoured by men,’ noted Will Dahlgreen in an article for YouGov. ‘The only mammal in the top 20 most uniquely male animals is the Narwhal, while every animal in the corresponding female list apart from the penguin and butterfly is mammal.’ Speaking to MailOnline, Mr Dahlgreen added that his suspicion as to why men are more likely to have a positive impression of lobsters is because they associate them with fine dining . 'As for why miniature pigs score so highly on female uniqueness, this isn’t because men are particularly likely to dislike them, but because women are more likely to be drawn towards cute animals,' he continued. 'We can’t tell for sure, but I suspect this is because it is easier to anthropomorphise these animals, in other words to ascribe human emotions to their facial expressions.' This chart shows the full scores for the 'uniquely male' animals, which were the ones that scored especially high with men but not high with women . Conversely, this chart shows those animals favoured by women, but not liked so much by men. It should be noted that none of the animals were 'disliked' - the survey asked for positive results only .
YouGov survey asked 190,000 people in the UK which animals they liked .
For both genders the most popular animals were dogs and tigers .
But when the genders were correlated, the results were surprising .
Men preferred lobsters, alligators, sticklebacks, sharks and eagles .
Women were in favour of miniature pigs, cats, ponies and donkeys .
We’ve known for centuries that man’s best friend is the dog - right? Not necessarily, according to a latest YouGov study, which found that lobsters were the preferred animals for men - when compared to the choices by women - followed by alligators, sticklebacks, sharks and eagles. For women, meanwhile, the results were a bit more timid - with miniature pigs, cats, ponies, donkeys and chinchillas making up the top five. Man's new best friend? Dogs may have once ruled the roost, but now according to a YouGov survey of people in the UK, men prefer lobsters as their favourite animal - when compared to female choices - which may be because they associate them with fine dining (picture of red reef lobster shown) The study involved a poll of 190,000 YouGov members in the UK, which the company says is ‘perhaps the largest dataset ever collected of people’s passions and phobias in the animal world’. Overall, when gender is not taken into account, the nation’s favourite animals are dogs, tigers, elephants, cats and dolphins. The least favoured are eels, millipedes and spiders. When male choices were compared to female choices, however, there was a surprising battle of the sexes on what the most popular animals were. The data showed that lobsters were the most popular animal among men when compared to those less liked by women, followed by alligators, sticklebacks and so on. For women, compared to men, it was miniature pigs at the top of the list, followed by cats and ponies. As for the most popular animals, the study found that things like dogs and snails were slightly more popular among women than men. Men were more likely to prefer 'heroic', 'aggressive' or 'creepy' animals, while women preferred 'cute', 'beautiful' and 'exotic' species. In the episode of The Simpsons titled Lisa Gets an 'A' (seventh episode of season 10), Homer Simpsons gets a pet lobster that he names Pinchy, and unfortunately ends up cooking him towards the end of the episode. While his actions seemed bizarre, did Homer actually predict that the animal was favoured by men? For women, when their choices were compared to men, their favourite animals were miniature pigs (shown), followed by cats, ponies, donkeys and chinchillas . ‘Animals with violent defensive abilities - sharks, eagles and piranhas - are particularly favoured by men,’ noted Will Dahlgreen in an article for YouGov. ‘The only mammal in the top 20 most uniquely male animals is the Narwhal, while every animal in the corresponding female list apart from the penguin and butterfly is mammal.’ Speaking to MailOnline, Mr Dahlgreen added that his suspicion as to why men are more likely to have a positive impression of lobsters is because they associate them with fine dining . 'As for why miniature pigs score so highly on female uniqueness, this isn’t because men are particularly likely to dislike them, but because women are more likely to be drawn towards cute animals,' he continued. 'We can’t tell for sure, but I suspect this is because it is easier to anthropomorphise these animals, in other words to ascribe human emotions to their facial expressions.' This chart shows the full scores for the 'uniquely male' animals, which were the ones that scored especially high with men but not high with women . Conversely, this chart shows those animals favoured by women, but not liked so much by men. It should be noted that none of the animals were 'disliked' - the survey asked for positive results only .
were the preferred animals for men - when alligators, sticklebacks, sharks and eagles. For timid - with miniature pigs, cats, ponies, of people in the UK, men prefer lobsters as their 190,000 YouGov members in the UK, which the of the sexes on what the most popular animals animals were 'disliked' - the survey asked for