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Animal Extinction Hidden in Plain Sight | |
admin | |
2018-04-11 | |
发布年 | 2018 |
语种 | 英语 |
国家 | 法国 |
领域 | 地球科学 |
正文(英文) |
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A new study suggests that the overrepresentation of wild animals—lions, tigers, giraffes, etc.—in our everyday lives (toys, films, ads) makes us forget that they are on the verge of extinction. Researchers believe companies should pay 'image rights' when using such animals to help conservation efforts. The study's principal author ecologist Franck Courchamp explains.
You have just published a study in Plos Biology1 which explains that contrary to popular belief, the most iconic species of wild animals, those considered the most charismatic—lions, tigers, elephants and others—are not necessarily benefitting from increased conservation efforts and remain under enormous threat, something which the general public often ignores. In your view, one explanation could be that these animals are overrepresented in our daily lives—in cultural products, advertising, and so on. These “virtual” populations may hide the highly precarious situation of these species. How did this study come about? The fact that we are surrounded by images of these species prevents us from realizing just how rare they are in reality.
What type of studies were they?
Were there differences according to geographic area? ![]() Looking at this final list of charismatic wild species—in order: tigers, lions, elephants, giraffes, leopards, pandas, cheetahs, polar bears, wolves and gorillas—it is surprising to find the gray wolf… Finally, what surprised you most is that the general public is not always aware that these species are endangered or on the brink of extinction… The general public appeared unaware that giraffes are on the verge of extinction, that the Massai giraffe species has fallen 97% in recent years.
The precarious situation of pandas, polar bears and tigers were the most well-known, since there have been numerous information campaigns about them. For other species, such as giraffes, however, the results were more surprising. The general public appeared unaware that giraffes are on the verge of extinction, that the Massai giraffe species has fallen 97% in recent years, which is tantamount to genocide with regard to a species and its gene pool. The general public was also unaware of the fact that lions could also disappear within 20 years if nothing is done. I found this result extremely revealing, particularly for species that are the darlings of the general public. If we cannot save the lion, the king of animals and the emblematic species found on every coat of arms, every flag and every sports logo, what hope is there of saving a species of butterfly deep in the tropical forests of South America that no one has ever seen? The hypothesis advanced in your study to account for this gulf between reality and people’s perception is that these charismatic species are in fact overrepresented in our daily lives. F. C.: Exactly. The fact that we are surrounded by images of these species prevents us from realizing just how rare they are in reality. Our perception of them is biased. The example of the giraffe in France is striking. Each year, the number of “Sophie la Girafe” baby products sold in France is higher than the number of babies born (over 700 000 in 2016) and this number is obviously far higher than the number of real giraffes on the planet. We asked 48 French volunteers to record the number of times they saw images of one of these species in their daily life over the course of one week. On average, they reported seeing 31 in a single day. ![]() And in the US, you noted that these 10 charismatic species account for 48% of all cuddly toys sold on Amazon each year. The second part of your study, however, which is in practice the most important, concerns the actual condition of these species across the planet. And here, the global population figures mask a fragility that is often poorly understood. A United Nations report cited in your study indicates that these species are often endangered as a result of hunting. A number of studies have shown that within the coming 20 to 30 years, wild tigers and lions will have vanished from the face of the Earth.
According to your findings, what will be the next species to disappear? In this publication, you launch two appeals, the first is that more studies on these species should be conducted globally. F. C.: Indeed. The fact is that we now have a better idea about the number of stars in the sky than about the number of species here on earth, and we know more about the surface of the moon than about the bottom of our oceans—and I say this as an enthusiastic astronomy amateur myself. Yet we lack substantial investment to preserve the greatest riches that we have on this planet. The problem is not that researchers are not interested in this problem but that there is a shortage of researchers in the fields of conservation and ecology. There are many students, but very few open positions and very little funding for research projects, and there is very little possibility of interaction with sources of private funding. For this reason, a compensation mechanism could help fund the conservation of these emblematic species. If a company makes profit on images of tigers or lions for example, it is only natural that part of this profit should go towards funding for the preservation of these animals.
We will conclude with this, your second appeal, for a mechanism that would help fund species conservation based on the use of their images, such as “lion image rights” for example. While the financial impact would be negligible for a company using images of an endangered species, it would make an enormous difference in terms of efforts to conserve the species. Moreover, these companies have everything to gain: if they were to be perceived as the benefactors responsible for the preservation of the species that epitomize them, they would be sending out a very strong and positive message to their customers. Conversely, if they allowed their emblem to disappear, they would be left with nothing, proudly displaying the logo of an extinct species… Footnotes
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来源平台 | Centre national de la recherche scientifique |
文献类型 | 新闻 |
条目标识符 | http://119.78.100.173/C666/handle/2XK7JSWQ/129624 |
专题 | 地球科学 |
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714 | admin. Animal Extinction Hidden in Plain Sight. 2018. |
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