A winner has prevailed in a worldwide competition voted on by the public. The world’s ugliest animal is …
... the blobfish. This even made my stomach turn, and I get to cover some pretty gross stories. I mean, look at that mini blob or whatever that is dripping from its grim frown. (Via The Guardian)
"The blobfish has won the award to be the mascot for the Ugly Animal Preservation Society." (Via Ugly Animal Preservation Society)
The British society is dedicated to "raising the profile of some of Mother Nature's more aesthetically challenged children." (Via Ugly Animal Preservation Society)
Biologist and TV presenter Simon Watt presented the award and told the BBC: "Our traditional approach to conservation is egotistical. We only protect the animals that we relate to because they're cute."
He means it, though he has a little fun with it: "Conservation is littered with broken promises. Like all animals are equal. Tell that to the hundreds of animals now tragically extinct because they were just painfully ugly." (Via YouTube / NSEC UK)
However unsurprising, the blob’s competitors in the competition really couldn’t hold a candle to it.
Some of them included pubic lice — you know, the kind that live in hair, more icky than ugly, the horseshoe bat, which is actually sort of cute, and the proboscis monkey, or the long-nosed monkey. (Via The Huffington Post)
But back to the champ.
“It’s an inhabitant of the deep waters off of the coast of Australia, and it’s in danger of extinction.”
"Because nobody will mate with it." (Via WJXT)
Well, that might not be a completely out-of-the-way hypothesis. But the real reason why there are so few of them is because of overfishing.
The blobfish lives about 800 meters, or almost 3,000 feet, under the water's surface — the same environment shared by edible critters like crabs and lobsters. (Via The Telegraph)
So most of the time when they are caught, it's by accident during deep-sea trolling as they're dragged up with other catches. (Via MonsterFishWorld)
Now, blobfish might be the most appropriate name for this critter, but what exactly is a blob?
"The blood red creature rolls over and eats everything in its path."
"We're going to burn the place down I can't take any chances." (Via Paramount Pictures / "The Blob")
Uh, no. It won’t eat you, just as much as you probably don’t want to eat it. Channel 4 News has the real breakdown.
"It looks so jelly actually because it's their flesh. It just means they're slightly more buoyant than water, so they don't have to use their muscles very much, they can stay hovering there and just wait for food to come to them." (Via Channel 4)
795 votes of the more than 3,000 cast were for the blobfish. So congrats, Mr. Blob, now that we all know what you are.
See more at: Newsy.com
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