LiveScience.com Lists Ugliest Animals

For some reason, the folks at LiveScience.com thought it was a good idea to have an ugly contest, where they’ve posted what they think are the two-dozen or so least attractive animals. To make this insult even more entertaining, you can rate the ugliness of the animals, on a scale of 1-5 stars.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, there are descriptions of the animals–or at least of their ugliness–that are so obnoxious and offensive that it’s suprising the site wasn’t created by 8-year olds.

Here are a few choice quotes:

• "The Muscovy duck has red, fleshy caruncles on its face, over its eyes, and at the base of its bill. Some say the caruncles are unique or interesting or even stunning. Let’s be realistic. It looks like it has guts all over its face." (See a Muscovy-related post here.)
• The heading for the West Indian manatee is: "Just Plain Ol’ Ugly"
• Moray Eels . . . "tend to be shy around humans, the experts tell us. Maybe they just don’t want anyone to see how ugly they are."
• The White Rhinoceros: "The charge: Pain on our eyes. The Weapon: The Face. . . . Verdict: Guilty as Charged!"
• The Hawaiian Hoary Bat: "ugly . . . and hideous . . . The look on this thing serves up quite a scare." Gee, I didn’t know bats were things.
• The Opossum: "How could you not love those black, beady eyes . . . pink hairless ears . . . . If you [do love the various apparently-unsightly characteristics], then we offer you our sympathy."
• The Brown Pelican: "We can barely hold the food in our stomachs looking at it."

I find this disconcerting because once people have deemed someone (something?) ugly, abuse isn’t far behind. This is especially true for children.

Several years ago, I stopped a 10-year old boy from chasing and trying to kick a Muscovy duck. When I asked him why he wanted to hurt it, he responded, "Because it’s ugly."

My mother, like millions of others, used to say, "If you can’t think of something nice to say, don’t say anything at all." There’s just no good reason to fuel the fire of potential cruelty with vitriol like an ugly contest.

How does it serve the animals? How does it serve humans? What is the benefit of such an endeavor?