NOT READY FOR A CLOSEUP: What happens when an animal that needs saving isn't as cute as a tiger cub? Some biologists explain why human aesthetic preference has played such a big role in protecting the panda--over stranger species like this one, the helmeted hornbill.
Image: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/DOUG JANSON
More In This Article
-
Overview
10 Ugly Animals That Need Help, Too
-
The Best Science Writing Online 2012
Showcasing more than fifty of the most provocative, original, and significant online essays from 2011, The Best Science Writing Online 2012 will change the way...
Read More »
The bulbous purple burrowing frog may not have made it onto any awww-inspiring tote bags like the unequivocally adorable giant panda. But, an increasing number of people are arguing, the humble frog—and other more homely creatures—is at least equally worth rescuing from the brink of extinction.
One of those people is Nathan Yaussy, an ecology graduate student at Kent State University in Ohio and the creator of the EUT—Endangered Ugly Things blog (recently profiled in The Washington Post). "My goal is just to let people know that these things are out there, and they're just as important as the panda," he says.
[Slide Show: 10 Ugly Animals That Need Help, Too]
A handful of animals that are easier on the eye than, say, the aye-aye, have gotten the lion's share of publicity, funds and legislation for their salvation. Many so-called "charismatic megafauna," which conservationists select as mascots—or "poster children", are chosen for their looks rather than their ecological importance, notes biologist David Stokes of the University of Washington in Bothell.
"If we could raise the ecological literacy of the public and our officials to see beyond the surface value of these animals to their ecological or even utilitarian role," Stokes says, "that would be really valuable." Many endangered insects may actually be more ecologically "important" than an affable Galápagos penguin. But biologists, he notes, often neglect to take preference into account.
Certainly looks can be a matter of personal preference, but the surefire way that an animal finds its way into the public's collective heart seems to be by having infantile qualities—big eyes, round face, wobbly gait (a phenomenon called neoteny). But, as Stokes found from his research [pdf], no hard-and-fast rule dictates which animals gain wide appeal: "Really tiny differences among species can have huge effects on how much appeal they have," he says. He studied a range of penguin species and found that those with patches of bright color received by far and away the most visual coverage.
See what we're tweeting about
7 Comments
Add CommentCouldn't agree any better! There are several of these creatures like the seacucumber that's often ignored simply because they aren't as attractive as corals or seaanemones...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGood article - we've linked to it in our blog. The axolotl picture is great. The media bias is something we'll try to take into account.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishow can you call the African wild dog ugly? i think it has beautiful coloration
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs Henry Beston once wrote,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"For the animal shall not be measured by the man. In a world older and more complete than ours they move finished and more complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear."
Ugliness is in the mind of the beholder.
After researching endangered animals for a school project i was maddened by the fact that when looking up minke whales i found so much anti-whaling propaganda, yet when i googled, Orange Roughy i was swamped with recipes!!!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMinke Whales aren't endangered whilst Orange Roughy are being seriously threatened by very dubious and detrimental local fishing practices.
I am so glad that there are others out there that are similarly dismayed :)
So is it better to kill vegetables for food than animals, just because they do not look cute or cannot cry out? Did you ever watch a vegetable cell under a microscope as it sqirms and finally explodes due to heat?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOne of my favorite songs is by Traffic "John Barleycorn Must Die".
Vegetarians are among the greatest scientific idiots.
This isn't about vegetarianism, in my opinion you can receive your nutrients from animals, but we have a responsibility to be aware of the consequences of what we put on our plate, and not be persuaded by irrelevant emotional triggers
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this