Australia has a love-hate relationship with the ibis, but it’s not underrated

Whether it’s their weirdly bald head, rubbish-eating tendancies, or distinctive aroma, the ibis has become an easy target for scorn.

But despite living near landfills and stealing the odd chip, they’re not universally disliked.

Or, at least, they’re not disliked as much anymore. A growing number of people see them as misunderstood, loveable bin scamps that have cleverly adapted to a new, human-centric world.

To find the nation’s most beloved faunal underdog, ABC Science has just released a list of 10 underrated Australian animals to vote on.

Eagle-eyed readers might notice the Australian white ibis — Threskiornis molucca, or the beloved “bin chicken” — is suspiciously absent.

Ibis supporters may argue this is an urban-bird hit job. Others may suggest the smelly scavengers are too popular to compete.

Because while the ibis is a polarising figure, Australia is spoiled for choice when it comes to underrated animals. There are thousands of contenders that don’t get the recognition they deserve.

So, is the ibis really underrated?

First, it’s worth understanding what underrated means. 

In this competition, we’re looking for incredible native Australian critters that are largely unknown or under-appreciated.

Dominique Potvin, a bird ecologist at the University of the Sunshine Coast who has spent years researching the Australian white ibis, argues the ibis is not underrated.

“They’re polarising … whether you love it or hate it, I don’t think you can underrate it.”

Now, Dr Potvin is no ibis hater. She proudly displays her ibis earrings while being interviewed. In fact, the ecologist is partly responsible for the ibis’s reputation renovation.

Her team’s work, which encouraged citizen scientists to use the Big City Birds app to name and follow hundreds of tagged birds, has even made some people warm to the creatures.

“They started thinking ‘Oh there’s my ibis, Jack’ or ‘Oh my gosh, that one went to Bunnings on a Sunday and got a sausage.’

“They would start to get to know them and gained that sense of connection.”

That’s not the case for many other animals, and that can make them more vulnerable to becoming extinct.

Who loves a louse?

Some of Australia’s highly under-appreciated animals actually live on the skin of the ibis, hidden under its feathers.

“I’ve been part of a paper that described a louse species on ibis,” Dr Potvin says.

Understanding why humans care more about the ibis than the lice living on them is worth investigating, according to Kate Umbers, a entomologist at the University of Western Sydney.

“Some of the most threatened species are the parasites of the species we love. So parasites of giant pandas, parasites of koalas,” she says.

“There’s a real value judgement there around what is important, what deserves to live, and what deserves to go extinct.”

What about worms …

Dr Umbers is the director of Invertebrates Australia, and is passionate about highlighting the creatures most likely to fly under the radar: insects, molluscs, sponges, and other creatures without a backbone. 

“For me, the underrated species are the ones that we see every day, that we dismiss as uninteresting.”

That also means they’re easy to overlook.

“The estimates are that around two-thirds of the invertebrates in Australia haven’t been described, and that equates to probably around 200,000 species,” she says.

And this lack of knowledge means that species could be going extinct, without anyone ever having known it existed. 

“Estimates recently suggested 9,000 invertebrates have gone extinct in Australia since colonisation, and that equates to still one to two per week going extinct,” she says. 

“Some of those might have names, but by and large they probably don’t.”

To get a species described and named, scientists need to include comparisons to other species, undertake DNA testing and much more, according to Dr Umbers. 

“Describing species is a whole science in itself, and it’s often quite a lot of work,” she said.  

… or spiky, slimy, slithery or bitey animals?

Even once species have been described and named, that’s not the end of the battle according to Meg Shaw, an environmental behaviour researcher at Monash University. 

Animals such as insects, frogs and reptiles simply are less common in our collective consciousness, which can then mean they get fewer resources to help save them.

“With legislation, research funding, social media representation, and film and TV, we see a lot more mammals and birds than anything else,” Dr Shaw says.

But her recent research into wildlife photos and conservation organisations on social media suggests that reversing this trend might be as simple as selecting a wider variety of animals to highlight.  

“We found that although social media is swamped by photos of mammals and birds, when you looked at the level of engagement that these images were getting, there wasn’t much difference between mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and invertebrates.

“Just sharing more content about these under-represented species so that people recognise that they exist … is really important to get people aware, and then start raising that that level of empathy for them.” 

It’s time to vote

We’d love to highlight all of Australia’s underrated animals but we could only choose 10 for National Science Week. 

Will something furry like the marsupial mole, or slimy like the short-fin eel win? Does the palm cockatoo rock or is the desert skink the true underdog? 

Find out about each of the contenders or vote right now:

Still can’t decide? Listen to our special mini episodes on What the Duck?!

The winner will be revealed on 15 August.