Look at the world of the face: ugly animals no one studies

Release date: 2016-05-31

The survey shows that scientists are also appearance parties, and animals with a shape that is not cute enough receive little attention.

Spinifex hopping mouse (1), broad-toothed rat (2), Australian ghost bat (ghost bat) (3)

The koala is cute, but does it attract too much attention? Are these “mascot-protected animals” taking up protection funds and concerns for animals that should be less lovely? A recent study specifically illustrates this problem with numbers. Two universities in Western Australia: researchers at Murdoch University and Curtain University, by organizing 14 248 journal articles, books, and conference proceedings on 331 species of mammals in Australia, When selecting subjects, the researchers had a clear bias toward ugly animals. In fact, 73% of these publications are about marsupial mammals such as kangaroos and koalas. In stark contrast, rodents and bats, which account for 45% of mammals, received only 11% of attention.

To make matters worse, most of the research on these ugly animals is only on the surface, including the classification and description of animals without names, as well as some basic measurements, according to Patricia Fleming, the first author of the paper. Since humans do not understand the habitats, living habits, and food sources of these ugly animals, it is more difficult to protect them against risk factors that may cause them to become extinct. Animals affected by such information loss are not limited to Australia. “For other species in the world, such as amphibians, our protection and research is even less in place,” said Simon Watt, founder of the Ugly Animal Preservation Society. The ecological effects of these organisms may be more important than those that are generally considered to be worth protecting. For example, ugly bats can destroy insects that destroy crops or spread disease.

Fleming said her article aims to appeal to researchers to select more diverse wildlife as research subjects, and she acknowledges that funding for researching and protecting seemingly less cute animals may have been insufficient. “The total amount of funding for wildlife is not much, which has led to research on some species that have not received funding at all,” she said. For example, most federal protection budgets in Australia are used to combat invasive alien species. Destroying European rabbits may be a good thing for native Australian plants, but it does not make any sense for the protection of Australian native animals such as spinifex hopping mouse or Australian ghost bat (ghost bat). Not to mention the koala.

Source: Global Science

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