Animals too ugly for love: Hideous creatures are being overlooked by scientists and this is putting them at risk of extinction

Despite the vital role they play in many ecosystems, animals deemed to be 'ugly' are being ignored and overlooked by the scientific community, the Daily Mail reports.

A study has found uglier animals attract less attention and less funding when it comes to conservation efforts and research.

This could mean the ugliest animal populations, including the blobfish, Dugong and fangtooth fish could be under threat.

A study has shown that ugly animals attract little attention when it comes to scientific study into their physiology, anatomy and ecology.

Non-charismatic species such as fruit bats and tree rats may be the most in need of scientific and management research effort, the researchers say.

The study was conducted by Trish Fleming, a wildlife biologist at Murdoch University, and Bill Bateman, a wildlife biologist at Curtin University, both based in Perth, Australia.

They looked at research publications concerning 331 Australian mammal species that broadly fell into categories they labelled as the 'good, the bad and the ugly'.

It turned out that studies into the 'good group' mainly looked into their anatomy and physiology.

While research into animals in the 'bad group' concentrated on ecology and population control techniques.
But the ugly group was overlooked.

Despite making up 45 per cent of the 331 species studied, the 'ugly' animals had attracted little attention from scientists.

'We know so little about the biology of many of these species,' said Dr. Patricia Fleming, lead author of the article published in Mammal Review.

'For many, we have catalogued their existence through genetics or taxonomic studies, but when it comes to understanding what they eat, their habitat needs, or how we could improve their chances of survival, we are very much still in the dark.'

'These smaller animals make up an important part of functioning ecosystems, a role that needs greater recognition through funding and research effort.'

'We need to document observations of their diets, habitat selection, space use and reproduction in order to identify threats and management options.'

Researchers could also be discouraged from investigating obscure species for fear that the resulting papers may be 'of limited interest' to be published, she added.

With co-author Bill Bateman, Fleming has called for improved funding for the lesser known mammals.

It would be 'tragic' if humans ended up causing the extinction of more species without even knowing anything about them, they said.