By Jonathan Flynn Below is an image of one of the world rarest mammals – The Vaquita Dolphin. Cute, right? Unfortunately, the International Whaling Commission has recently declared this beautiful subspecies critically endangered. This alert is the result of a recent study conducted by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which predicted only 10 Vaquita remain, all of which live off the Gulf of Mexico Source: dolphinquest.com
The news about the Vaquita is sad, and any outcry is surely warranted. But reading this story had me wondering: With the huge number of species on the verge of extinction, what makes the Vaquita dolphin so special? Why do we only hear about a select number of endangered species? Why are only a select few deemed newsworthy? I was even more curious when I learned that the IUCN lists over 40,000 species on their endangered species red list. Clearly, there are certain traits that species such as the Vaquita Dolphin possess that others do not. It is common knowledge that news outlets often give the reader what they want to see, confirming their own biases or preferences to get more clicks. This audience capture likely explains this phenomenon regarding the public awareness of selected endangered species. But what exactly is this bias that sways us? What bias are news outlets invoking when making these decisions? At first, I chalked it up to their undeniable cuteness — a simple case of the heart ruling the head. But it’s not just about a pretty face. This selective attention is better explained by the phenomenon of ‘charismatic megafauna bias’, a concept that spotlights our preference for certain species beyond mere cuteness. What makes a megafauna charismatic?
Why does charismatic megafauna bias matter? Unfortunately, the phenomenon doesn’t just determine which animals appear on our cereal boxes. This bias has real-world impacts on conservationist efforts to protect our ecosystem. This is due to the Bambi effect in which people are more likely to support conservationist efforts with animals that are subjects of their charismatic megafauna bias. Consequently, the amount of funding a species receives towards conservation efforts is greatly influenced by their charisma. a
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May 2024
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