Animal related activities as determinants of species knowledge

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. © 2010 by EURASIA.