It's not relative to absolute size -- it's relative to the average size of the thing. Baby elephants are cute, even if full-grown dogs, being much smaller, are

It's not relative to absolute size -- it's relative to the average size of the thing. Baby elephants are cute, even if full-grown dogs, being much smaller, aren't. A tarantula is not so much a small thing as it is a HUGE spider. Tiny spiders are actually cute. At least, as cute as spiders get, anyway.