Animal Related Activities as
Determinants of Species Knowledge
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University of Education Heidelberg, Heidelberg, GERMANY
Publication date: 2010-12-21
EURASIA J. Math., Sci Tech. Ed 2010;6(4):237-243
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ABSTRACT
Previous work has established a relationship between knowledge and environmental
concern. Different factors may contribute to this knowledge and animal-related leisure
activities may also contribute to this knowledge. 390 participants in Leipzig, Germany
were interviewed to assess their animal-related leisure activities, their demographic status
and their species knowledge. The questionnaire contained twelve common and indigenous
animal species for measuring species knowledge, and demographic and animal-related
questions. Significant positive relationships between animal species knowledge and age,
educational level, the frequency of walking in nature, reading books/journals about
animals, using the internet as a general source of information, frequency of zoo visits,
watching animals, feeding birds at a bird feeder, visits to a natural history museum, and
visits to game parks emerged. The study suggests that there is a positive relationship
between different kinds of animal-related activities and species knowledge. Further, people
using identification books scored significantly higher in knowledge but no differences
could be found concerning the items “using the internet” and “asking friends” suggesting
that the internet is not an optimal source for identification of unfamiliar species.