How Aesthetics influences how we percieve animals - Evie Cantú

 The past few weeks I’ve had to dedicate countless hours to learning about mushrooms. It’s not something I would have done usually in my free time, however in my biology class we have been examining the effects on arbuscular fungi on seedling growth and root changes. I think that when it comes to a large majority of people when it comes to mushrooms most don’t really share a positive outlook on them. Mushrooms are often associated with death and decay, and while that is true- mushrooms also share a very important job by promoting new life by recycling nutrients from organic matter. From where something was once living decomposes by fungi new, vibrant life with come forth- yet their reputation still paints them as a symbol of death and death only. 

                  I found this was similar to what we talked about in class, where aesthetics greatly influences how people perceive places or organisms. We mentioned how this can be seen very clearly when it comes to endangered species. In most cases the animals that are cuter or aesthetically pleasing to look at are the ones that get the most representation, while the less pleasing to look at often get overlooked and in a sense forgotten about- this situation is known as “Conservation Bias” (Green.Earth, 2024). In many cases, endangered animals are often an important key in an ecosystem such as they could be a primary predator for a prey species and they keep the numbers in check, or they could be a part of how an ecosystem maintains their health- like oysters. By continuing to give in to the bias of aesthetics it lowers the chances of these important, underrepresented organisms.  I feel like it’s something that in recent years people have become more aware of the issue, but it’s definitely sad to see animals that have gone extinct and you kind of just wonder if maybe their fate would’ve been different if they were as cute as a panda.


Here is the article in case anyone wants to read it!

https://www.green.earth/blog/ugly-species-need-biodiversity-protection-too

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