It's safe to say that proboscis monkeys are some of the strangest looking creatures in the animal kingdom. While female monkeys have pointy noses, the males have large, rather phallic noses – earning them the title of the'world's ugliest animals'. Now, a study has finally got to the bottom of this unusual facial feature. Scientists from the Australian National University say that their large noses are more than just an eye sore. Instead, they offer several major benefits – especially when it comes to attracting a female partner.

Male monkeys with large noses have more females in their harems – proving that size does matter, according to a team of scientists. Researchers studying proboscis monkeys in Malaysia found that males with exaggerated masculine traits, such as big noses, 'serve as advertisements to females in mate selection'. Those involved in the study from Cardiff University, Kyoto University and Sabah Wildlife Department and the Danau Girang Field Centre in Malaysia, say the new evidence points to both male-male competition and female choice as contributing to the evolution of enlarged male noses. Explanations for the primate s long nose have previously been gleaned more from folklore than from science. But, researchers studying proboscis monkeys in Malaysia found that big noses'serve as advertisements to females in mate selection' The primate, which is native to Borneo, sports a sizeable snout, which Dr Sen Nathan, assistant director of Sabah Wildlife Department and PhD student at Cardiff University and Danau Girang Field Centre, said had long been admired as an'extremely attractive' visual feature by biologists.