Environmental Education in Zoos—Exploring the Impact of Guided Zoo Tours on Connection to Nature and Attitudes towards Species Conservation

Matthias Winfried Kleespies,Martin Becker,Viktoria Feucht,Paul Wilhelm Dierkes

doi:10.3390/jzbg3010005

Matthias Winfried Kleespies, Martin Becker + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/jzbg3010005

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Abstract

In recent decades, zoos have been increasingly transformed into education centers with the goal of raising awareness about environmental issues and providing environmental education. Probably the simplest and most widespread environmental education program in the zoo is the guided tour. This study therefore aims to test whether a one hour zoo tour has an influence on the participants’ connection to nature and attitude towards species conservation. For this purpose, 269 people who had voluntarily registered for a zoo tour were surveyed before and after the tour. In addition to the regular zoo tour, special themed tours and tours with animal feedings were included. The results show a positive increase in connection to nature and a strengthening of positive attitudes towards species conservation for all tour types. For nature connectedness, in particular, people with an initial high connection to nature benefitted from the special themed tours and the tours, including animal feedings. For attitudes towards species conservation, no difference was found between the tour types. The results prove the positive influence of a very simple environmental education program, even for people with a preexisting high level of connection to nature and positive attitude towards species conservation.

Highlights

In our modern society the protection of nature and the environment is becoming increasingly important
No significant differences occurred between types of tours for attitudes towards species conservation (p = 0.487; African mammal tour: 4.44 ± 0.64, n = 146; special topic tour: 4.58 ± 0.44, n = 38; feeding tour: 4.55 + 0.47, n = 60)
The results of this study show that even a simple and short environmental education program can have a positive effect on the participants’ connection to nature and environmental attitudes

Summary

Introduction

In our modern society the protection of nature and the environment is becoming increasingly important. Zoos have increasingly seen their role as being the education of visitors [1] and, in this way, have evolved from living museums to education and conservation centers [2,3]. Both zoos and zoo visitors see conservation education as a major task for zoos and aquariums [4,5]. Numerous studies have demonstrated the positive effect of zoos in relation to environmental education. Behavior change through zoo education has been demonstrated [16,17]

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