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Anthropomorphism has recently emerged in the literature as a useful tool for conservation. Within the current conservation literature, description of the development of anthropomorphisms and the range of species that can be anthropomorphized overlooks established and emerging evidence from anthropological and other social science studies of human-animal relationships. This research shows that people anthropomorphize a very broad range of species, including plants. We discuss how people construct anthropomorphic meanings around species, through a diversity of mechanisms and with both positive and negative effects. We then review the many gradations and forms of anthropomorphism, and some related conceptions in non-Western cultures, which have different types of utility for conservation. Finally we discuss cases where animals are anthropomorphized but with negative outcomes for human-animal interactions and conservation. Limiting the use of anthropomorphism in conservation to prosocial, intelligent, suffering animals risks suggesting that other species are not worthy of conservation because they are not like humans in the ''right'' ways. It would also mean overlooking the application of a powerful tool to the promotion of low-profile species with high biological conservation value. We emphasize that negative outcomes and conflicts with ecosystem-level conservation actions are also possible and need to be carefully managed. Use of anthropomorphism in 123Biodivers Conserv (2013( ) 22:1577( -1589( DOI 10.1007 conservation must take into account how people engage with species and attribute value to their characteristics.

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How strong‐beaked frugivores such as parrots affect other frugivores is poorly understood. This study quantitated six indices of habitat quality for the facultatively frugivorous Bananaquit (Coereba flaveola) using two habitat types and three treatments of habitat quality, namely old growth forest versus citrus orchards in Dominica, the latter habitat type with and without parrot frugivory. The study also controlled for elevation, rainfall and citrus fruit maturity. The results indicate that both the quantity of parrot frugivory and fruit maturity at the time of frugivory influenced the habitat quality for Bananaquits. Their abundance was higher, individuals stored more fat, and parasite loads were lower on farms with more parrot frugivory. Fruit quality mediated the influence of the quantity of parrot frugivory insofar as Bananaquit body condition was tightly correlated with the fruit chemistry at the time of frugivory or harvest. This study provides empirical evidence of a commensal association and underscores the important ecological role of Neotropical psittacines as mediators of habitat quality for other animal. The findings further suggest that loss of these apex consumers may have triggered previously unappreciated trophic cascades, particularly in island ecosystems lacking large mammalian canopy frugivores.