Australian scientists from Charles Darwin University examined who or what people find most valuable and worth protecting in an extraordinary situation such as a forest fire. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine Biological Conservation (BioCons).
According to the authors of the study, their interest was determined by the devastating forest fires that occurred in Australia in 2019-2020 and went down in history as the “Black Summer”. The fire then completely destroyed the habitat of more than 500 species of plants and animals, more than 100 of which were considered rare.
2,139 Australians participated in the research. They had to choose what to save first in the fire. Options included one person unaware of the danger, one person aware of the danger and unwilling to evacuate, a population of 50 koalas, a population of wallabies, a native snail species (which will become extinct if not saved). , a native shrub species (which will become extinct if action is not taken), a flock of sheep, a farm with a barn and tractor, and two Australian Aboriginal artifacts.
The overwhelming majority of respondents preferred the first two options, which involved saving human lives. Koalas and wallabies ranked third and fourth, respectively.
All other points received negative scores; that is, survey respondents marked them as least priority in a choice situation.
Interestingly, cultural objects belonging to Australia’s indigenous people received more votes in the rankings than a farm with a house and a tractor.
Scientists have noted that people tend to value a single human life more than an entire species of organism that has evolved over millions of years and may disappear forever.
The high ranking of koalas and kangaroos shows that we prefer to save cute and iconic animals over other species.
The researchers say their discovery underscores the need to educate people about the protection and conservation of species that have been little studied and receive little attention.
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