I have spent more hours than I want to admit scrolling through #CuteOff on Twitter. The hashtag (following on the heels of the much more R-rated #JunkOff) is a competition of sorts between tweeps to see who can post the cutest animal photo. But as I was sitting on the couch the other day, showing pic after pic to fellow biologist and science writer (and my boyfriend) Jake Buehler, we started to notice that vertebrates — animals, like us, with backbones — were highly overrepresented. Invertebrate species make up more than 95% of the diversity of animal life on this planet, including all of the major groups of animals (called phyla), yet there were choice few to be found in #CuteOff. The discussion went a little something like this…
J: It’s just not fair!
C: Well, I don’t know… most inverts are pretty… gross-looking.
J: You’re gross looking — to a ribbon worm!
C: <glare>
J: Just kidding. But being serious: there are lots of adorable inverts out there that deserve a little love.
C: Hm… You think so? Care to make a wager?
J: I’m listening.
C: How about we take the major phyla of animals, split them down the middle, and see who can assemble the cutest arsenal of inverts?
J: What does the winner get?
C: Bragging rights.
J: You’re on.
So we looked up a quick phylogeny of animals and decided to take turns starting with what is traditionally considered the most basal multicellular group: phylum Porifera. I drew the short straw, which meant I had to go first.
C: You ready for this?
J: I was born ready. Continue reading “A #CuteOff Challenge: An Entire Kingdom of Cute”
