Prickly Connections: Sociodemographic Factors Shaping Attitudes, Perception and Biological Knowledge about the European Hedgehog

Abstract

The modern lifestyle of humans is leading to a limited exposure to nature. While several wild species are adapting and thriving in anthropic environments, natural history knowledge is declining, and positive attitudes and behaviours towards nature are facing challenges. Because anticipating attitudes and engendering broad-based support for nature-related measures requires a good grasp of social contexts, we set out to evaluate the sociodemographic factors driving the perception, attitudes towards, and natural history knowledge of a keystone species—the European hedgehog. In 2022, we conducted a questionnaire answered by 324 Portuguese adults. We found generally positive feelings and attitudes towards this species. A higher degree of academic qualifications and previous personal experience with the species seem to play a role in (i) people’s perception about human impacts on hedgehogs and (ii) positive attitudes, especially during encounters where the animals were in difficulty. Despite this, the extent of natural history knowledge was low overall, and the study population was self-aware of this. Our insights underline the need to tailor educational programmes if we are to encourage people to re-establish meaningful connections with nature, to foster social support for biodiversity stewardship, and to implement the One Health approach in a way that resonates with distinct social groups.

Applied Hedgehog Conservation Research

“…In this Anthropocene era, the existence of almost every wildlife species depends on how well they can cope with the conditions that are created by humans. Hedgehogs are generally popular animals, but just popularity is not enough when key groups in society are disconnected from and ignorant of the natural world [ 13 ]. Citizen Science and public engagement initiatives need to be sensitive to the social context to engage and motivate people to implement conservation actions, in order to make the changes that will allow wildlife to co-exist with us.…”