A campaign highlighting New Zealand's "ugly" and most endangered species has been launched by a group that helps prevent the extinction of Aotearoa's biodiversity.
The Endangered Species Foundation has launched the 'We Love You Even If You're Ugly' campaign to inform New Zealanders of the rare and perhaps unattractive species the country has to offer.
"We celebrate the uniqueness of our most vulnerable species even if they’re seen as ugly, or overly fuzzy. We love feral charisma," Endangered Species Foundation's general manager Natalie Jessup said.
The campaign will allow people to adopt from a list of six of New Zealand's most endangered species.
The six endangered species people can adopt are:
- Giant weta fungus
- Hamilton's frog
- Chatham shag
- Fuzzweed moth
- Lowland longjaw galaxias
- Holloway's crystalworm
"We are inviting people to help our most endangered species by putting something different in their Christmas stockings," Jessup said.
People who adopt a rare creature will be given an adoption certificate and a link with more information on their adopted species.
The adoption will also help the foundation continue to protect the weird and rare biodiversity in Aotearoa.
