We think the little guys are cute, ourselves. The blue-footed booby at left inhabits the Gal pagos Islands and has no fear of man. Eligere also gave us elect in the 15th century, via the past participle electus . It comes from Latin eligibilis , a derivative of eligere . Eligible came to English in the 15th century, as well.
Some related words are collect, neglect, and select.
The fact that elite forms part of the word Israelite is a coincidence and the words are not related. The ancient Greeks noticed that when amber was rubbed on sheepskin it would pick up light articles such as feathers but they didn't know why. We now know that the rubbing caused a transfer of electrons between the two materials, thus creating a difference in electrostatic potential between them. This was the first man-made electricity. By 1646 the word was being used in treatises written in English, notably Sir Thomas Browne's Pseudodoxia epidemica , 1646.