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Research article2018Peer reviewedOpen access

The paradoxical extinction of the most charismatic animals

Courchamp, Franck; Jaric, Ivan; Albert, Celine; Meinard, Yves; Ripple, William J.; Chapron, Guillaume

Abstract

A widespread opinion is that conservation efforts disproportionately benefit charismatic species. However, this doesn't mean that they are not threatened, and which species are "charismatic" remains unclear. Here, we identify the 10 most charismatic animals and show that they are at high risk of imminent extinction in the wild. We also find that the public ignores these animals' predicament and we suggest it could be due to the observed biased perception of their abundance, based more on their profusion in our culture than on their natural populations. We hypothesize that this biased perception impairs conservation efforts because people are unaware that the animals they cherish face imminent extinction and do not perceive their urgent need for conservation. By freely using the image of rare and threatened species in their product marketing, many companies may participate in creating this biased perception, with unintended detrimental effects on conservation efforts, which should be compensated by channeling part of the associated profits to conservation. According to our hypothesis, this biased perception would be likely to last as long as the massive cultural and commercial presence of charismatic species is not accompanied by adequate information campaigns about the imminent threats they face.

Published in

PLoS Biology
2018, Volume: 16, number: 4, article number: e2003997Publisher: PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE

    Sustainable Development Goals

    SDG15 Life on land

    UKÄ Subject classification

    Ecology
    Fish and Wildlife Management

    Publication identifier

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2003997

    Permanent link to this page (URI)

    https://res.slu.se/id/publ/95355