Everyone knows about the Big Five, the five animals that tourists want to tick off while on safari, but what about the Ugly Five?

They are just as much fun to spot, though I certainly don’t agree that they are all ugly.  Here they are, so you can judge for yourselves.

1. The Marabou Stork, who resembles a hunched old man.  They are so odd-looking, they make me laugh.

.
2. The Vulture, with its curved bill and scrawny, featherless neck. Now, this one definitely features on my ugly list.

3. The Warthog, who in my eyes is just plain cute.  Maybe it’s the influence of Pumba from the Lion King, but they always make me smile.

.
4. The Wildebeest, or Gnu.  I’ve featured this stunning beast in this blog previously so you probably already realise I have a soft spot for this animal.  Ugly? surely not.

5. That just leaves the Hyena.  I have only seen a hyena twice and I don’t have a photo to show for these encounters – too brief and too dark. It may be the Lion King influence at work again, but I definitely count this animal as ugly.

So which animals do you class as ugly?  What your ugly 5 be?

It seems that this is not en entirely frivolous topic of discussion.  There is some evidence that ugly animals are more prone to extinction, because we humans don’t fight to protect their survival. To read more on this topic click here.

And to see who the Ugly Animal Preservation Society just voted as the ugliest animal in the world, watch the video clip below.

.
Linked to the Thursday Special “Non-challenge”.