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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
agricultural and biological sciences
Schoolchildren and one of the most unpopular animals: Are they ready to protect snakes?
Anthrozoos, Volume 26, No. 1, Year 2013
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Description
For cultural reasons and due to the narrow vision of environmental policy makers, most conservation efforts focus on a few charismatic species and consequently neglect the majority of others under threat; many unpopular species are even killed in large numbers with little concern. Redressing this bias through educational programs is therefore important. Snakes are unpopular animals; they suffer from human harassment in most places and many populations have declined worldwide. Consequently, they provide suitable substrate to better improve conservation education in schoolchildren. Responses to a questionnaire administered to 2,570 schoolchildren (7-14 years old) from 10 countries showed that many children liked snakes and that most of the students wanted to see snakes protected. Such counterintuitive results were supported by the explanations given by the children, notably the reasons they liked or disliked snakes. Previous physical contact with snakes was often associated with snake likeability. We also found strong and expected differences between countries: for instance, where venomous snakes represented a health risk, most children declared to be afraid of snakes. Overall, our results negate the simplistic, and previously unverified, adult view that snakes are necessarily perceived as frightening animals, thereby justifying their persecution. This study provides an encouraging message, suggesting that it is not compulsory to focus on charismatic animals to convince children to protect wildlife. © ISAZ 2013.
Authors & Co-Authors
Ballouard, Jean Marie
France, Paris
Cnrs Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
France
Centre de Recherche de Conservation Des Chéloniens-soptom
Ajtíc, Rastko D.
Serbia, Belgrade
Institute for Nature Conservation of Serbia
Balint, Halpern
Hungary, Budapest
Hungarian Ornithological and Nature Conservation Society
Brito, J. C.
Portugal, Fornelo e Vairao
Cibio - Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos
Crnobrnja-Isailovíc, Jelka
Serbia, Nis
University of Niš
Serbia, Belgrade
University of Belgrade
Desmonts, Diane
France, Saint Martin D'heres
Not Available
ElMouden, El Hassan
Morocco, Marakech
Faculté Des Sciences Semlalia
Erdogan, Mehmet
Turkey, Antalya
Akdeniz Üniversitesi
Feriche, Monica
Spain, Granada
Universidad de Granada, Facultad de Ciencias
Pleguezuelos, Juan Manuel
Spain, Granada
Universidad de Granada, Facultad de Ciencias
Prokop, Pavol
Slovakia, Trnava
University of Trnava
Slovakia, Bratislava
Slovak Academy of Sciences
Sánchez, Aida
Slovakia, Bratislava
Slovak Academy of Sciences
Santos, Xavier
Spain, Barcelona
Universitat de Barcelona
Slimani, Tahar
France, Saint Martin D'heres
Not Available
Tomovic, Ljiljana
Portugal, Fornelo e Vairao
Cibio - Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos
Uşak, Muhammet
Turkey, Gaziantep
Zirve Üniversitesi
Zuffi, Marco Alberto Luca
Italy, Pisa
Università Di Pisa
Bonnet, Xavier
France, Paris
Cnrs Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Statistics
Citations: 65
Authors: 18
Affiliations: 16
Identifiers
Doi:
10.2752/175303713X13534238631560
ISSN:
08927936
Research Areas
Health System And Policy
Maternal And Child Health
Violence And Injury