Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Climate change and human activity are both the largest factors contributing to a declining biodiversity on a global scale; thus, humans must actively work to preserve and protect species and their habitats. All zoos and aquariums that are members of WAZA and EAZA or similar organizations have a goal to preserve species and work with conservation both in situ and ex situ. Almost a tenth of the world’s population visits zoos and aquariums every year, which makes them a huge platform for sharing knowledge. It is therefore important that zoos and aquariums work effectively with sharing knowledge, making it accessible and successful so that people can understand and change their habits to contribute to a more sustainable planet, since sustainability and conservation go hand in hand. The goal of this study was to research the opinions of visitors about sustainability, conservation and sharing knowledge. The data was acquired through a questionnaire which was available around Slottsskogen zoo and online through Slottsskogen’s social media. Although the sample size is small, the study shows that most of the respondents think that it is important that Slottsskogen, other zoos and society in general work with sustainability, conservation and sharing knowledge. However, only about a third of the respondents knew about the conservation work the Slottsskogen zoo does, and only about a tenth of the respondents came to the Slottsskogen zoo to actively learn. The study therefore shows that a gap exists between the respondent’s attitude and their knowledge of the work Slottsskogen zoo does toward sustainability, conservation, and the sharing of knowledge. The study also discusses how to share knowledge passively through signage and how important good and well-designed signage is, to make visitors learn even though they did not set out to learn.