His hair sticks out in all directions and his stare is fierce. He is fast and astute. And what he loves to eat most is… carrion. He may not be pretty, but he carries himself like a king. Meet the mascot of Sofia – the griffon vulture!

The ungainly bird was singled out to be the symbolic mascot of the capital city at the Sofia festival of science a few days ago. The idea of the organizers was to draw public attention to the birds we look upon as ugly but which are essential to the balance of nature. Some of these species have already gone extinct, others are in danger of extinction but for purely psychological reasons, we humans take no notice of them. And how can we expect anyone to be interested in animals that are awkward, ungainly, downright ugly? But everyone will go soft over photographs of baby tigers or fluffy koalas. Yet we should never forget that all animals are equally important in the natural order of things, biologists say. As does Simon Watt, founder of the Ugly Animal Preservation Society. The renowned British scientist and TV personality came to Sofia to present his book and to take part in the ceremony at which the mascot was selected. “The panda gets too much attention. Yes it’s cute, but did you know, the main reason it was chosen for the logo of the WWF is black and white equals cheaper printing costs?” says Simon Watt. Why not choose an animal that is ugly? Where’s the democracy in that?

And so, there were four more odious creatures jostling for the prestigious “position” of Sofia mascot. Each of them had an “advocate” to promote their good qualities to the big audience that had gathered at the Sofia Theatre. The most persuasive of all was veterinary doctor Toma Shtilyanov, the advocate of the griffon vulture. From him we find out that in the mid-20^th century the scraggy bird actually vanished from our skies. In the 1970s however a small population was brought in and reintroduced from Spain.

“This is a bird that is so misunderstood,” says Toma. “Vultures are scavengers so there is no way people can be fond of them, and they look so weird. At the moment there are four locations in the country where griffon vultures are to be found – in parts of the Balkan Range and the Rhodopes and in Kurdjali. They currently number 50-100 pairs. It is interesting to know that this is a species with a pronounced family balance - the male and the female of the species brood the eggs in equal measure during the incubation period. They live in large communities and are strictly monogamous. They fly very high above the human level of vision and swoop down when they spot food. But what does the griffon vulture have to do with Sofia? This is a species that was part of the zoo collection of Tsar Ferdinand which was later to become the Sofia Zoo. This is also one of the first places in Bulgaria where the fight for the reintroduction of the griffon vulture began.”

The other contenders for the title of “mascot of Sofia” were the slimy medicinal leech, a creature rarely found out in the wild, the green toad, the beauty queen in the pageant – the night moth (Lignyoptera fumidaria) and the repugnant greater horseshoe bat – the most controversial contender of them all. We learn that the bat actually lives in our basements and attics, that it is capable of devouring one third of its weight at a time, that the female of the species gives birth to its young head down and that its baby comes into this world with fully developed legs so that mother can grab them at once.