Simon Watt is an evolutionary biologist and television presenter from Northern Ireland who first came to prominence in 2005 as a finalist in Famelab where he discussed the evolution of altruism and sexual selection in animals.

However, it’s his creation of the Ugly Animal Preservation Society that got him most attention.

It started out as a bit of joke, but the society soon realised its importance and is now dedicated to raising the profile of some of Mother Nature’s more aesthetically challenged children.

Travelling around the UK to various science festivals, they find out each destinations ugly mascot through a public vote.

One such animal, is the ever-sad looking blobfish. This deep sea fish is rarely seen by humans but not easy to forget once you have.

Blobfish

Winchester voted the scotum frog as their ugly mascot. When its lungs are close to empty, this poor fellow has excessive amounts of skin, used to help the frog respire in the high altitude in which it lives in South America, but unfortunately make him look like, you guessed it, scrotum!

Scrotum Frog

The naked mole rat is Brighton’s mascot. They are burrowing rodents native to parts of East Africa and are unique as their physical traits mean it can survive harsh underground conditions as they have very little pain sensations in their skin.

Naked Mole Rat

You can currently see Matt presenting ‘Inside Nature’s Giants’ on Channel 4 as he dissects giants whales, camels, squid and so on.

We'll be speaking to Simon on Futureproof, this Saturday at 10am for what promises to be a fascinating show!

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