Beautiful butterflies get more attention from the public – and from scientists

The Guardian reports the following. ENC is republishing it as an attributed briefing, not as independently confirmed fact. If this item is false or incomplete, the responsibility sits with The Guardian, which released it. Research has shown that colourful and patterned species are the subject of more studies, and receive more conservation funding Large and beautiful butterflies attract far more attention than species that are smaller and dull. Now a new study has shown that this bias towards beauty results in the boring butterflies being overlooked in conservation programmes. To understand the link between beauty and conservation, researchers surveyed more than 21,000 people from more than 100 countries, asking them to look at photos of European butterflies and rate their beauty on a scale of 1 to 10 based on their first impression. The results, which are published in Current Biology , reveal that larger more colourful and patterned butterflies, like the yellow swallowtail, were consistently rated more att… Original link: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/oct/07/beautiful-butterflies-more-attention-public-scientists-conservation