Animals' popularity 'a disadvantage'
By Mary HaltonScience reporter, BBC News
13 April 2018
A survey of the public's perceptions suggests many people are unaware that the animals they consider
"charismatic" are under threat ∈ the wild. These include lions, elephants, tigers and other animals which frequently
appear ∈ branding and advertising.
Researchers suspect the animals' media ubiquity may lead people to think they are prospering ∈ the wild. The
[5] findings were published by an international team of scientists ∈PLOSBiology.
The notion of "charismatic" species has cropped up recently ∈ conservation biology, explains Dr Franck
Courchamp, the study's lead author. "There is a regular claim that the most charismatic species are diverting most
of the time and resources [∈ conservation]. I started wondering whether this was true and followed by better
results ∈ conservation," he told BBC News.
[10] Dr Courchamp and his team set out to determine exactly which species these might be. Using an online survey
available ∈ four languages, supplemented by classroom questionnaires ∈English, Spanish and French primary
schools, researchers asked the public to name the wild species they considered most charismatic. They also looked
at how frequently animals were represented on zoo websites, and on the covers of Disney and Pixar animated
films.
15 Additionally, the team had volunteers ∈France catalogue their encounters with "virtual" populations of the 10
animals over the period of a week. They encountered an average of 4.4 lions ∈ logos, cartoons, magazines and
other sources each day, implying that people are likely to see two to three times as many "virtual" lions ∈a year
as there are lions ∈West Africa.
Dr Courchamp thinks this may have a subconscious impact, though there is no direct evidence as of yet. "Mostly I
[20] think because people see giraffes and lions every day of their life, they unconsciously think they are ∈ abundance,"
he said.
Despite their abundant media representation, nine of the animals on the list are classed as vulnerable, endangered
or critically endangered on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
When researchers asked survey participants whether they thought these animals were endangered, explaining that
[25 they were not using IUCN terminology, they were surprised by the results. Almost half of respondents thought that
critically endangered gorillas were not under threat.
But conservation biologist Dr Sarah Durant cautions that this doesn't yet establish "a causal relationship between
seeing the species frequently ∈ society and whether that relates to our bias perception of their endangerment."
Other factors may influence people's understanding of a species' status, and their participation ∈ conservation
[30] efforts.
"We don't know that much about the psychology behind conservation. It's a very new field. I think a lot of people
often feel overwhelmed as well, because the problems are so huge," added the Zoological Society of London
researcher, who was not involved ∈ the study. "It would be an interesting area for further research," she said.
Dr Courchamp proposes an innovative solution; funding conservation by "copyrighting" the image of vulnerable or
[35] endangered species. Companies would donate money to NGOs ∈ return for using the animals ∈ their branding or
advertising. "I think it's not so unrealistic," says Dr Courchamp.
"There are already some companies that do that. Jaguar are ∈ partnership with Panthera. Lacoste... also made a
campaign recently where they replaced their logo with silhouettes of endangered species."
Dr Durant observes that it would likely be difficult to execute, but is an interesting suggestion. "This is just the first
[40] step," she commented, "putting this idea out there. Hopefully it will open a discussion about the use of these
species and how it relates to their conservation."
Time is certainly short for some of the animals on the list. Ecologists predict that, without sustained conservation
efforts, elephants will become extinct ∈ the wild within a century. Cheetah are facing an imminent population
decline of up to 70%, and are already confined to just 9% of their historical territory ∈Africa.
[45] Dr Courchamp feels that more needs to be done. "At the moment we are doing first aid on species that are on the
verge of dying. We are just pushing the day they go extinct ∈ the wild, we are not saving them."
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