動物園と大学の連携による解説板設置効果の検証

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  • Effectiveness of signboard installation at a zoo through cooperation with a university, with a focus on a wild animal,Pteromys volans orii, living in Tokachi, Hokkaido

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Japanese zoos emphasize education to cultivate awareness of, and positive attitudes toward, animal conservation. Zoos are important places where people can feel a connection with animals through local animals. Unfortunately, however, large foreign animals often attract more attention than local animals, and visitors have not always been imbued with the appropriate knowledge and values with regard to local animals. The quantity and quality of the information zoos provide to visitors affect the visitors’ knowledge of animals and attitudes toward animal conservation. Therefore, we expected that a zoo’s cooperation with a university with appropriate zoological knowledge to create a signboard to attract visitors’ attention would help improve environmental education at the zoo. The Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine has conducted various studies on an animal local to Tokachi in Hokkaido, Pteromys volans orii, and has accumulated knowledge of this animal. From this perspective, we aimed to (1) create and install a signboard about Pteromys volans orii, based on the university’s accumulated knowledge, and assess the effect of signboard installation through a questionnaire survey; and (2) from the results of the survey, propose how future environmental education should be delivered. The survey showed that visitors’ characteristics, including age, number of visits, and whether they already knew about the animal, did not affect their likelihood of reading the signboard. In addition, even when visitors read the signboard, their knowledge of the animal did not increase. Male visitors and those who liked the animal were more likely than others to read the signboard. Visitors who read the signboard tended to be more aware of conservation than those who did not. In cooperation between the zoo and the university, we intend to further improve our environmental education and provide information on local animals. These approaches will help increase visitors’ knowledge of animals and awareness of animal conservation.

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