Does colour matter? The influence of animal warning coloration on human emotions and willingness to protect them

Abstract

The perceived popularity of animals plays a crucial role in their support by the general public and consequently in the success of conservation efforts. We experimentally investigated with Slovak schoolchildren the role of animal coloration and basic human emotions in the willingness to protect animals. Both unaltered and experimentally manipulated pictures of aposematic animals increased perceived danger. Spiders and snakes were perceived as more dangerous/disgusting than other taxa, particularly birds and mammals. Children showed significantly a stronger willingness to protect aposematic animals over inconspicuous, cryptic animals. Perceived disgust and danger of animals negatively correlated with a willingness to protect them with females showing greater fear of animals than males. Our results suggest that the use of aposematic animals in conservation programs may increase their popularity and public support. bs_bs_banner Animal Conservation. Print ISSN 1367-9430 Animal coloration and conservation P. Prokop and J. Fanč ovič ová Animal coloration and conservation P. Prokop and J. Fanč ovič ová Supporting informationAdditional Supporting Information may be found in the online version of this article:Appendix S1. List of species used in PowerPoint presentation.Animal coloration and conservation P. Prokop and J. Fanč ovič ová

Invertebrate disgust reduction in and out of school and its effects on state intrinsic motivation

“…Thus, exposure to animals of fearful or disgusting taxa might be a method to reduce these basic negative emotions which, in turn, may foster the attitude towards their function in ecosystems and conservation. The reduction of disgust is a worthwhile task because disgust negatively impacts on motivation and achievement (Randler et al, 2005;Randler et al, 2013) and the willingness to protect those (Prokop and Fančovičová, 2013). However, the study also showed that photographs reduced disgust.…”

“…Negative emotions, such as anxiety and disgust, are related to lower achievement (Randler et al, 2005) and less willingness to protect disgusting species (Prokop and Fančovičová, 2013), while positive emotions, like interest and well-being are positively related to learning achievement and motivation (Randler et al, 2012b). Disgust reactions are usually hard to unlearn (Kasperbauer, 2015), but studies in clinical settings on phobia (e.g., spider or snake phobia) showed that an intervention with living animals can reduce this phobia, lending support for these types of intervention (Ballouard et al, 2012).…”

Interest in Birds and its Relationship with Attitudes and Myths: A Cross-cultural Study in Countries with Different Levels of Economic Development

“…It may also depend on the different avifauna in the countries because Colombian species might be more attractive and their song might be more exciting as compared to European avifauna. Prokop and Fančovičová (2013), for example, found that attractiveness positively influences students' willingness to protect the species. It is likely that the link between an interest in birds and their attractiveness worked in this case, too.…”

“…For example, birds are most active during the day, and they use acoustic communication, which makes them "more similar" to humans as compared to fish or reptiles. Furthermore, color perception of humans (trichromatic) and birds (tetrachromatic) are more similar than the vision of most other mammals (dichromatic); thus, colors may also seem to play a significant role in attitudes toward birds (Frynta, Lišková, Bültmann, & Burda, 2010;Prokop & Fančovičová, 2013). Concerning human attitudes toward animals, Serpell (1986Serpell ( , 2004 proposed a motivational framework with two distinct dimensions: affection/sympathy and economic self-interest.…”

“…Some large animals, such as horses or zoo animals, are also considered attractive. Reptiles, amphibians, and insects (with the exception of butterflies) are less appreciated than most mammals and birds (Prokop & Fančovičová, 2013). In another research, Randler et al (2011) noted that German grade 5 and 6 students found zoological topics more interesting than botanical topics.…”