Spare a thought for the blobfish. This gelatinous creature looks like something I sneezed up on the weekend, but does that make it any less deserving of protection?*
When it comes to the protection of our endangered species, the cuddliest animals reign supreme. That is why pandas, dolphins and orangutans are easy to get protection (and payment) for, while the not-so-adorable animals miss out. These big, cute and cuddly wildlife examples are known as charismatic megafauna, and, worldwide, they gain the lion's share of funding and attention for conservation causes.
The cuteness factor has recently been the subject of scientific analysis, through which it was determined that cute animals always trump their more modest-looking fellow species when it comes to conservation. Mammals are at the head of the queue, probably because they are similar to us (and have big-eyed cute babies, which humans naturally react to sympathetically).
This creates problems for New Zealand because, at first glance, New Zealand appears to be a bit of a desert (though even a desert has camels) when it comes to elegant, majestic-looking wildlife. In fact, many of our native species look as though they just walked down from the Mountains of Mordor, with several boasting body armour, spindly limbs and bizarre nocturnal habits. Our Lord of the Rings oddities even extend to the native "Gollum Fish", named for its homely "precious" wee face.
I've been sticking up for New Zealand's nature for a while, and to my constant dismay, according to some people I speak to, "all our wildlife is really boring".
So for a conservationist like me, how on Earth do you get people excited about the little things?
We have some of the most ancient and unique plants and animals on Earth - author Jared Diamond described New Zealand as "the nearest you can get to studying life on another planet", but for a generation raised on the big cuddly creatures on Animal Planet, how do we get them interested in things like the night-hunter, Peripatus, an ancient creature that seeks out its prey, shoots it down with toxic slime from the turrets on its head, and gorges itself on both prey and the net of slime, recycling its weapon for another day's hunting?
Just because we don't have furry, large, cuddly beasts doesn't mean our wildlife is any less important or amazing. I personally think that the kakapo, tuatara or even gollum fish tell a wonderful story about our lives, but not being four-legged furries, they're m difficult to "sell". What about you? What's your favourite native species and why? Do you really think our wildlife is "boring"?
*Oh and about that blobfish. Greenpeace has turned the bizarre looks into an advertising ploy, offering adoption for blobfish on its UK website.
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I love the kakapo! And kiwis are "cute" as well! I can imagine it must be very hard to promote the plight of something like the gollum fish when it's not traditionally cute like a panda or any other cuddly animal!
Also wanted to say Nicola what a great blog, I'm looking forward to reading more. And also that I remember you from high school!
You get me interested in the Peripatus by telling me exactly what you've just told me.
That thing is cool!
Yes, do read Guns, Germs and Steel. Don't read Collapse, Diamond lets his thesis get away with him and he uses lots of rather dodgy arguments unsupported by facts to back his theories. Particularly annoying is the chapter on Rapanui/Easter Island in which he carefully cherry-picks facts in order to decalre that the massive drop in population was due to self-inflicted environmental damage and virtually ignores documented historical facts of the population being almost wiped out by introduced diseases, slave-trading and forced removal during the colonial period.
Diamond is also being sued by a couple of people from PNG for writing an article which they claim is totally inaccurate.
That looks like me at work ;o)
Totally agree about the charisma factor. It concerns me how some people think "cute things" (fortunately for our native birds, most come into this category with most people) shouldn't be harmed, but "scary things" (spiders, big lizards like tuatara, and especially weta) should be killed. Come on people. It's not the weta's fault it frightened you - you probably gave it a fright as well. Why is our instinct to kill things that give us a start? It's so wrong, and so unfair...
This is amazing and so true. Humankind's bias for cute/cuddly/furry things has always struck me, and I always cringe when I hear people refer to invertebrates and non-mammals as 'ugly'. In reality, it is those little 'ugly' things that are responsible for the survival of not only ecosystems, but also our own species.
Agree about Jared Diamond. Excellent writer. Also, I'd gladly adopt a blobfish!
The first thing conservationists need to do is be honest with the public. When they trot out nonsense about NZ being in an extinction holocaust the public look around and fail to see the corpses.
In fact, when challenged on this the alarmists could produce only three species extinctions in the last century, all of which were virtually complete on the mainland before then with tiny residues on offshore islands.
Honest education about what lives and interacts on property-owners' land is the key but attempts to deny all change are doomed.
The blobfish had a name: Mr Blobby.
Personally, I think that the blob fish is rather cute. Maybe instead of trying to compete with the cute and furry, we should be highlighting our species as weird, wonderful and unique. The species you have mentioned I have never heard of, so maybe NZ on Air should look at funding a program that could introduce us to these creatures. It would be far better to spend money on that instead if c#%p like the GC
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Anyone trying to cuddle a lion will end up looking a lot more like that blobfish than they do now.
The kakapo is fascinating, and not just because one thought a conservationist's head was his girlfriend. They have an aroma, unlike most birds, and still try to fly, even though they can't. They're a living example of very recent evolutionary change.
Oh, and more people need to read Jared Diamond. Especially Guns Germs and Steel, but anything of his will do.