Zoo Illogical: Ugly Animals Need Protection from Extinction, Too
Zoos have helped save endangered species that have lost their
habitats with captive breeding and other programs, but are they
only saving the poster-species that zoo-goers find aesthetically
pleasing?  Matt Reinbold  Zoos are like fancy hotels, albeit
without the fluffy pillows and individually packaged soaps, or
so says Daniel Frynta, an ecologist at Charles University in
Prague. Only the "richest" animals get to check in. And if an
endangered species gets a room, he says, it might just survive.
Frynta defines a rich animal as one that we humans find
appealing. And, he says, we have very specific taste: It's got
to be big. It's got to be cute. It's got to behave or look
humanlike. If a critter is colorful, we like it. We also like it
when zoo denizens play and speak and travel in family groups.
Those animals, he says, get to stay in zoos. "Poor" animals—that
is ugly ones—stay outside where their habitats are quickly being
destroyed.  Species