In defence of the world’s most reviled vertebrate animals: part 1: ‘lower’ species (sharks, snakes, vultures, frogs & toads)

ABSTRACT

Biodiversity is vital to the welfare and survival of humans, but public support for conservation of most animal species is appallingly limited. Vertebrates make up less than 5% of the world’s documented animal species, but are viewed far more sympathetically than invertebrates. This is because humans are empathetic with the appearance and behaviour of many of them, particularly the charismatic superstars like pandas and tigers that currently are the mainstays of biodiversity fundraising. Conversely, just as such attractive icons are effective ambassadors of biodiversity conservation, so certain detested and sometimes dangerous vertebrate pests have greatly compromised the public image of biodiversity. Some of these species, admittedly, are responsible for significant damage to health and economic welfare. Nevertheless, this paper shows that all play important ecological roles, they have compensating economic values, their harm has often been exaggerated, and their very negative public images are undeserved. This first installment deals with the most reviled ‘lower’ vertebrate species: sharks (representing fish); frogs and toads (representing amphibians); snakes (representing reptiles); and vultures (representing birds). The next contribution will deal with mammals.

KEYWORDS:

• vertebrates
• sharks
• snakes
• vultures
• frogs
• toads

Acknowledgements

Brenda Brookes skilfully assembled and enhanced the illustrations for publication. Bruce Gill provided constructive criticism of the manuscript. Creative Commons Licenses employed in this article: CC BY 2.0 (Attribution 2.0 Generic): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/; CC BY 3.0 (Attribution 3.0 Unported): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/; CC BY 4.0 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en; CC BY SA 2.0 (Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 Generic): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/; CC BY SA 2.5 (Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 Generic): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/; CC BY SA 3.0 (Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 Unported): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/; CC BY SA 4.0 (Attribution ShareAlike 4.0 International): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ernest Small

Dr. Ernest Small is a principal scientist with Agriculture Canada, the country’s national department of agriculture. He specialises on the evolution and classification of economically important plants, dealing particularly with food, forage, biodiversity, and medicinal species. He has authored 15 books and over 400 journal publications. He has received several professional honours, including: election as a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London; the G.M. Cooley Prize of the American Association of Plant Taxonomists for work on the marijuana plant; the Agcellence Award for distinguished contributions to agriculture; the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee medal for contributions to science; the George Lawson Medal, the most prestigious award of the Canadian Botanical Association, for lifetime contributions to botany; the Lane Anderson Award, a $10,000.00 prize for science popularisation; the Dr. Ernest Small Industry Leadership Award of the Canadian Hemp Trade Association; and appointment to the Order of Canada, the nation’s highest recognition of achievements.