Photo by Patrick Honan/Nick Carlile.
You might have seen this Giant Stick Insect Article from NPR recently. It tells the story of a crazy large stick insect from Australia that disappeared in 1920 and was thought to be extinct, only to be re-discovered clinging to life on a tiny rocky island in 2001. Scientists brought a few of them back home and managed to breed them in a zoo.
Great news, right?! Totally sweet insect saved from extinction! Now we just have to get rid of the rats that ate all the original population and we can once again have these massive tree-lobsters roaming all over the place!
Except...
"Will ordinary Janes and Joes, going about their days, agree to spend a little extra effort and money to preserve an animal that isn't what most of us would call beautiful?" (says Robert Krulwich in the NPR article)
Should survival be a beauty contest?
