Created in 1998 by Casey and Shelley Black， the Northern Lights Wildlife Wolf Center focuses on not only rescuing young abandoned wolves but educating the public． Unlike other centers， you can actually walk with the wolves and have exciting， hands﹣on interaction with them here． And so， we gathered one late winter morning to learn， prepare and walk．

Scrappy and Flora，our wolves that day，were brought to the center when only a few days old． "They lived in the house with us for the first several months． We treated them like human babies， fed them and slept with them，" said Shelley． So， they are totally used to people． However， these are wild animals． For that reason， Shelley and Casey explained， the walk is totally on the wolf's terms． "We don't approach them， but if they come up to us， we can touch them． "

With all this in mind， we headed for the woods． We were walking on a logging road when suddenly，Flora， all 60 pounds of her，hurried up to me and raised up on her legs． She was almost as tall as me． As she leaned in， put her huge muddy paws on my shoulders and sniffed my face， apparently she was saying hello in wolf talk．

We walked farther， maybe half a mile， while Scrappy and Flora dashed in and out of the woods stopping to occasionally roll in the snow，dig for this or that and just play． Then we all headed into the trees to a picturesque stream where the wolves splashed，drank and had a great time．

One could point out that this whole adventure was staged and quite artificial． But the purpose， Casey and Shelley said，is to explain the wolves' place in the environment and，primarily，to let people know wolves don' t have to be universally feared﹣they really don' t hide secretly in the woods just waiting to eat people，but they' d rather avoid people，for the most part．

When she was studying to become a scientist, Megan Strauss rode in a small airplane to study giraffes. While a pilot flew over the Serengeti in Tanzania, Africa, the researchers looked down carefully and counted giraffes.

"I am always amazed how easily we can spot warthogs and other small animals, yet we sometimes have trouble seeing giraffes. Giraffes are slender in shape, and they may not throw a good shadow, " says Dr. Strauss, who has since become a wildlife scientist.

The Serengeti is about the size of Vermont, a state in the northeastern US, so the scientists could not study the entire area. Instead, they surveyed three areas where giraffes were studied in the 1970s. As they expected, they saw far fewer of these animals.

To find out if lions had been killing more giraffes in recent years, the team looked at the survival of young giraffes. Lions kill more young giraffes than adults, but the team found no decrease in young giraffes' survival after they are born, compared with the 1970s.

The team then looked at whether too many giraffes were being killed by parasites(寄生虫).The researchers counted parasite eggs in giraffe droppings, and they found too few to harm the giraffe population.

They looked into whether poachers (盗猎者)were killing too many giraffes. Two of the areas they studied are where giraffe meat is sometimes sold in local markets. Poachers catch more adult males than other giraffes. Researchers spotted too few males compared with females in those two areas, a sign of poaching.

When the food supply is short, the environment supports fewer giraffes and the females have fewer young giraffes. A lot of new trees have grown in the Serengeti, but many are a type that giraffes do not like to eat. The researchers found fewer young giraffes today than in the 1970s compared with the number of adult females, a sign that food was in short supply.

Dr. Strauss is working on an environmental education program for Tanzania including books for students. These materials will educate Tanzanians and help them to help giraffes. As knowledge grows and changes are made, they hope the giraffe population will increase.

Why do we find ugly-cute animals so attractive? And what makes odd-looking creatures so cute?

Evolution (进化) plays a role. According to Austrian zoologist Erin Fekete, human attraction to childish features, such as big eyes, large heads and soft bodies, is an evolutionary adaptation that helps ensure that adults care for the young, assuring the survival of their species. Odd-looking animals such as blobfish, pugs, aye-ayes and bulldogs all share these childish qualities that cause a loving response among humans and a nature to raise and protect. And these childish characteristics increase a person’s “protective behavior, attention and willingness” to care for the individual and reduce the “possibility of aggression towards a child”, says Cyril Drouet, a researcher.

Ugly-cute animals often have other value— some, like the blobfish, live in extreme environments that they have adapted to in remarkable ways. Scientists are keen to study these animals to understand whether their biology might provide fresh ideas that could lead to treatments for human health conditions such as cancer and heart disease.

But while many ugly creatures are strongly adapted to their life in the wild and can provide numerous benefits to the ecosystems they live in, they often still don’t get as much attention as more traditionally cute and beautiful animals, which leads to many of the ugly-cute species being ignored in terms of research.

There are other culture-led factors that also cause our attraction for ugly-cute animals. “The ugly-cute thing is very fashionable.” says Rowena Packer, a lecturer of animal behavior. “This is partly caused by social media, with many social media influencers showing off pet pugs and French bulldogs on Instagram.” she says.

But there are some serious worries around this trend. Veterinarians (兽医) are calling on people not to keep a flat-faced dog, because they suffer from serious health problems. Pugs and French bulldogs which have been selectively kept experience breathing difficulties, repeated skin problems and eye diseases. So while childish features such as big eyes may make us smile, we might want to reconsider our attraction for “ugly-cute” pets.