All animals are beautiful. Except, perhaps, the "ugly" ones.

But just because they aren't as easy on the eye as a newborn puppy, it doesn't mean they don't need looking after.

So the Ugly Animal Preservation Society (yep, it exists)  launched a campaign to save these endangered species and encourage young people into careers in conservation: they are searching for a new ugly mascot.

And celebrities including Stephen Fry and Simon Pegg have already given their support to the slimy, sticky, spiky, smelly cause.

Working in partnership with the National Science + Engineering Competition, the Society are running a public vote for your favourite unsightly animal.

The project also hopes to raise the profile of some of the world's least cutesy animals, 'challenging our love-affair with the poster-boys of conservation like the panda and the red squirrel.'

After voters pick their favorite creature, biologist Simon Watt will announce the winner at the British Science Festival in Newcastle on September 12.

dailymail.co.uk