<
https://theconversation.com/enough-with-the-koala-cakes-the-governments-annual-threatened-species-bake-off-seriously-neglects-fish-plants-and-other-lesser-loved-species-197028>
"Almost 2,000 native species are officially listed as “threatened” in Australia
– but how many have you actually heard of?
Each year, the federal government holds the Threatened Species Bake Off, a
social media competition where entrants represent a threatened species in cake
form. It aims to build awareness of Australia’s vast diversity of wildlife
facing extinction – but our new research found a serious problem with bias
towards cute and cuddly animals.
We trawled over 700 entries between 2017 and 2021, and found koalas, echidnas,
and wombats consistently depicted. These are the typical poster children of
conservation.
Koalas, for example, are frequently allocated large sums of money for
conservation. Compare this to many lesser known, more impactful and at-risk
species including the grey nurse shark and foundation species such as seaweeds.
Australia is a world leader in extinctions and, indeed, many at-risk plants and
animals aren’t even on the official threatened species list, but should be.
While the bake off is well-intentioned, our results highlight a massive gap in
conservation messaging.
Unless we build the profile of our lesser-loved plants, invertebrates, frogs
and fish, we’ll certainly see more species vanish."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
