Identifying factors influencing attitudes towards species conservation – a transnational study in the context of zoos

Abstract

In the past decades, zoos have increasingly developed into conservation and education centers and today make an important contribution to environmental education. In this context, this study investigated which factors influence attitudes towards species conservation. The variables examined were gender, age, the number of visits to zoos in the last 12 months, perception of zoos, interest in animals and the country where the survey was conducted. A total of 3347 participants in seven different countries were surveyed. In the hierarchical multiple regression, it was found that all the variables examined were significant influencing factors with exception of gender. A mediator analysis provided evidence that the number of visits to zoos, in addition to the direct effect on attitudes towards species conservation, also has a relevant indirect effect with interest in animals as mediators. Significant differences in attitudes towards species conservation were found between some of the countries studied, but only with a small effect sizes.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Attitudes towards species conservation
• environmental attitudes
• interest in animals
• zoo education
• cross national research

Acknowledgements

We would particularly like to thank all the zoos and the staff that supported us in carrying out the study: Sofia Zoo, Yerevan Zoo, Attica Zoological Park, Zoological Garden Lyon, Lithuanian Zoo, Welsh Mountain Zoo, South Lakes Safari Zoo, Heidelberg Zoo, Frankfurt Zoo and Opel-Zoo Kronberg.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Funding

This study was partly supported by the Opel-Zoo foundation professorship in zoo biology from the “von Opel Hessische Zoostiftung”.

Data availability statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation, to any qualified researcher.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Matthias Winfried Kleespies

Matthias Winfried Kleespies is a research assistant at the Department for Bioscience Education and Zoo Biology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany. He studied Biology and History and his research focuses on relational values, connection to nature and environmental education programs in zoos.

Natalia Álvarez Montes

Natalia Álvarez Montes is a research assistant at the Department for Bioscience Education and Zoo Biology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany. Her research focuses on conservation biology in the zoo context.

Alina Miriam Bambach

Alina Miriam Bambach and Eva Gricar are students at the Department for Bioscience Education and Zoo Biology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany and prospective teachers in biology. In their exam thesis they dealt with the relationship between environmental behavior, environmental attitudes and conservation education in zoos.

Eva Gricar

Alina Miriam Bambach and Eva Gricar are students at the Department for Bioscience Education and Zoo Biology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany and prospective teachers in biology. In their exam thesis they dealt with the relationship between environmental behavior, environmental attitudes and conservation education in zoos.

Volker Wenzel

Volker Wenzel is a professor in the Department for Bioscience Education at the Goethe University Frankfurt. His main field of work is the research of interests at out-of-school learning sites.

Paul Wilhelm Dierkes

Paul Wilhelm Dierkes is a professor in the Department for Bioscience Education and Zoo Biology at the Goethe University Frankfurt. His main research interests include zoo and wildlife behavior, environmental education programs focusing on interest and connection to nature.