Abstract
The chapter challenges the assumption that humans generally treat all animal species equally according to their need of conservation. We have reviewed recent studies suggesting that humans show strong preferences toward particular animal species/taxa and are willing to protect them more than others.
Such understanding of human preferences is an important part of conservation strategies. The main body of the chapter is based on original data analyses performed separately for main reptile, bird and mammalian taxa.
Human preferences to particular species and/or families were examined directly by presenting their pictures to the respondents. The results showed that factors affecting human aesthetic preferences toward particular species differ among higher taxonomic groups.
We concluded that animal attractiveness (both body size and beauty itself) influences human effort devoted to ex situ breeding projects more than inclusion in Red book lists.