You won't believe it but... Baby Rays Are Cute!
Think of a cute animal. Go on. Now what was it? A tiger cub? A baby panda? A cute little chick? We bet a member of the ray family never once entered your head.
Well maybe it should, as these adorable photos taken at the Sea Life London Aquarium quite definitively prove. These pair aren’t just adorable (come on, don’t deny it…) – they’re also endangered. The tiny undulate rays were born last month, and even now are just 10cm across. And here’s daddy (or “aquarist”, as he professionally likes to be known) Matt Howarth. He’s just checking up on how the little critters are doing… No, but on a serious note. Although we’re losing our minds over these flat little fish (closely related to sharks, did you know?), they also serve as an important lesson in conservation. It’s important that someone, somewhere, is passionate about every species in danger of becoming extinct – even the ones that don’t automatically spring to mind when humans automatically go down the “cute and fluffy” route. Because everything has its own little niche – from gnats to blue whales – and without them an entire ecosystem would be thrown off balance. Plus, we didn’t know how much we liked pictures of baby rays until today – and if these guys were already extinct we still wouldn’t. Click on image to open our gallery viewer all photos crtedit Jonathan Brady/PA |
|