The wide diversity of patterns reflects a variety of influences, ranging from Arabic calligraphy, European bouquets and Chinese phoenixes to Japanese cherry blossoms and Indian or Persian peacocks.
As patterns of diversity between one taxonomic group and another do not always align well with each other, conservation priorities may well overemphasise protecting familiar species.
Patterns of species diversity are biased: they are based on the species we know about, which tend to be large, visible animals like butterflies, birds and mammals.