New Story - Zoo seeks mate for 'gorgeously ugly' fish.

So London Zoo is in a desperate need for some females of the species of Mangarahara Cichlid (Ptychochromis insolitus). This species is extinct in the wild and only 3 males are in zoo collections, 2 at London Zoo and the other in Berlin Zoo. There was a female at Berlin, however when they attempting breeding the two the male killed the female. So London Zoo is now appealing to private collectors to see if there are any females out there. 

Here are the photos from the BBC News site (linked below):

Male

Female

Do you think this fish is ugly? I personally think that it isn't ugly at all and that the beautiful colours shine perfectly.

I find it interesting that they call this fish 'gorgeously ugly', it made me think. Does the appearance of the animal and how human perceive it effect its chances of being saved from extinction? For example, if the Giant Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca), naturally had patchy fur or was hairless or just seen as 'bad looking', would it be extinct by now? I am not suggesting this is the reason that this fish is now on the verge of extinction but it could be one of the factors and maybe one of the reasons it could be difficult to find one in private collections. 

Now people who know me, know that I love weird and wonderful things, which includes things that generally people would shy away from. For example, as pets I had hairless rats, a lot people were disgusted at them and would at times ignore me because I kept them. It has been found that peoples preceptions of an animal will have a large effect on how popular that animal is, one study done in Australia found that animals which people found attractive, intelligent and that they thought had character were more popular (Woods, 2000). 

So is there any way we can change this? How do we change peoples perceptions of animals that need conserving and need support from the general public? Zoos try to educate a lot of people about the wide range of animals they have and their various conservation statuses. Even though I think this is a good idea and will help encourage people to look beyond the looks of an animal and focus on its role in its ecosystem and the importance it has to help stop another place being stripped of biodiversity, I am not sure this is enough.

More advertisement of various animals, not just the ones that make you go "aww.." but they ones that make you ponder and make you realise that every creature counts and it makes a difference to their environment, no matter if they are a tiger, fly, panda or a fish.

So do you think this is true? What would you do to try and improve this situation?


References

Woods, B. (2000). Beauty and the beast: preferences for animals in Australia. Journal of Tourism Studies, 11, 25-35. 

BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22468206

Extra Reading

Fenton, D.M. and Hills, A.M. (2007). The percerption of animals amongst animal liberationists and hunter. Australian  Psychologist, 23, 243-57.

Schlegel, J. & Rupf, R. (2010). Attitudes towards potential animal flagship species in nature conservation: A survey among students of different educational institutions. Journal for Nature Conservation, 18, 278-90.