It seems that scientists – those rational, cool-headed creatures – may not be immune to a cute factor in their research. A new study finds that researchers are biased towards cuter animals. “Scientists are people too,” says Morgan Trimble, one of the study’s authors. “And many of them want to work with the big and furry stuff.” Trimble and coauthor Rudi van Aarde found that threatened large mammals get the bulk of the attention; meanwhile, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and small mammals receive much less. Furthermore, within animal groups, specific animals received a disproportionate amounts of attention: “For threatened reptiles, some 98% of research studied less than a quarter of species.” Chimpanzees and meerkats, in contrast, have been the subjects of thousands of studies (1,855 and 1,241, respectively). (HT: Maarten Schenk)[%comments]
Scientists to Ugly Endangered Species: Drop Dead
TAGS: environment
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This is surprising? Not to mention that this has been reported many times previously.
This is excellent news for those of us trying to pave the planet. We should be focusing our efforts on exterminating the ugly endangered species first, perhaps by spreading rumors about the virility their powdered bones provide, or maybe by publishing recipe books.
Those scientists can’t protect ‘em all!
So Mr. Trimble has proven the “Leary Theory” established by Dr. Denis Leary during his “No Cure for Cancer” research in 1992?
I have tried to bring attention to my organization the Bos Grunniens Worldwide Protection and Appreciation Society. Very few people know that there are only a few hundred wild yaks alive on the entire planet. If you look at a picture of a wild yak you can only be inspired by its grace and beauty. And yet as of this time I have only raised $160 for my planned trip to Tibet to further my research into saving these animals. Please don’t let bos grunniens go extinct. Speak to your elected representatives about saving the yak.
Yeh, well. Kittens and puppies get cuter year by year because they get selected by humans for their cuteness. Then the rest of the litter…well my Grandma took them to her washbasin and I never saw what happened. They just disappeared.
But people certainly select people by cuteness, too. But whether this makes humans cuter or not is arguable since the cutest people don’t necessarily have the most babies.
People select everything else by cuteness too: Shoes, clothing, cars, aircraft, leaders, bosses…everything.
The scientific method is rational and cool-headed, not necessarily scientists. I’m not surprised by the study results.
The Alaotra grebe of Madagascar has recently been reported as extinct:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8702000/8702598.stm
Equal rights for parasites!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_biology_of_parasites
There are so many reasons for this to be the case, logically.
We study Chimps because they are our nearest living relative. We also tend to find them cute…perhaps because they are so human-like. Which is why we study them.