Even if you can comprehend the idea of a silhouette, the disparity in the way animals and humans are represented is too great, and while we, as humans, understand this implicity, the aliens may not, thinking Earth is full of complex zoological life that’s intermixed with a society of robots that use anti-gravity tech to support their perfectly spherical heads. I guess there’s no way to stylize these animals effectively and have them retain their distinctive looks, like we have with people? Also, it kind of makes me wonder why we need to, say, differentiate between a moose and a bighorn sheep or donkey or bear on these signs; wouldn’t a generic beast icon that just means “big animals here” do the job as well? We don’t differentiate the types of people that may be crossing a street (there’s no PhDs or baking hobbyists or part-time models crossing signs, after all) so why do we do that with animals? You’re not likely to be on a different kind of alert for a sheep than a cow, are you? I mean, maybe? Horses are certainly faster, and bears are scarier, so perhaps there are reasons? And elk sure are pointy. Also, I bet the aliens would be really baffled by the handicapped person icon. Why does that robot have such a big ass, they’re probably wondering.

Humans Don t Get Necks But Animals Do  Cold Start - 48