ABSTRACT Interest in human–animal interaction (HAI) research is burgeoning. It is suggested that participation in universal programs that incorporate HAI can promote the social and emotional competencies (SECs) of children and youth. However, there is a dearth of empirical evidence (i.e., outcome evaluations) attesting to the effectiveness of such programs. To address this knowledge gap and consolidate findings across studies, a scoping review was conducted. The aim was to provide an overview of the research that combined HAI and the promotion of SECs. Three academic databases were searched for relevant publications published between January 1, 1990 and December 31, 2020. The reference lists of the included publications were also screened for additional relevant publications. From an initial pool of 3,618 publications, 28 unique publications were selected for inclusion in the scoping review. Most authors reported positive outcomes in their evaluations. Across publications, variability was evident in the participating animals (dogs, horses, and wild birds were most common), the designs of programs, and the settings in which programs took place. A lack of methodological rigor was also found across all evaluations reported, including inconsistencies in the reporting of demographic information regarding human and animal participants, minimal use of randomization or control groups, lack of validity and reliability evidence to support outcome measures, and minimal attention to program implementation and animal welfare. The implications for future research are discussed, including the need to conduct rigorous evaluations of programs using reliable and validated measures and to address the inconsistencies in the descriptions of programs and in the reporting of outcome evaluations.

Human–Animal Interactions and the Promotion of Social and Emotional Competencies: A Scoping Review

Forests are essential common‐pool resources. Understanding children's and adolescents’ motivations for conservation is critical to improving conservation education. In 2 experiments, we investigated 1086 school‐aged children and adolescents (6–16 years old) from the United States, China, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Testing participants in groups, we assessed their motivation for conservation based on collective‐risk common‐pool goods games in which they were threatened with losing their endowment unless the group donation exceeded a threshold needed to maintain the forest. Extrinsic motivations, rather than intrinsic, tended to lead to successful cooperation to maintain a forest. Certainty of losing individual payoffs significantly boosted successful cooperative conservation efforts across cultures (success rates were 90.63% and 74.19% in the 2 risk‐extrinsic conditions, and 43.75% in the control condition). In U.S. participants, 2 extrinsic incentives, priming discussions of the value of forests and delay of payoffs as punishment, also increased success of cooperative conservation (success rates were 97.22% and 76.92% in the 2 extrinsic‐incentive conditions, and 29.19% and 30.77% in the 2 control conditions). Conservation simulations, like those we used, may allow educators to encourage forest protection by leading groups to experience successful cooperation and the extrinsic incentives needed to motivate forest conservation.

Motivating children's cooperation to conserve forests

Poaching and habitat destruction in the Congo Basin threaten African great apes including the bonobo (Pan paniscus), chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), and gorillas (Gorilla spp.) with extinction. One way to combat extinction is to reintroduce rescued and rehabilitated apes and repopulate native habitats. Reintroduction programs are only successful if they are supported by local populations. Ekolo ya Bonobo, located in Equateur province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is the world's only reintroduction site for rehabilitated bonobos. Here we assess whether children, of the Ilonga-Poo, living adjacent to Ekolo ya Bonobo demonstrate more pro-ape conservation attitudes than children living in, Kinshasa, the capital city. We examined children's attitudes toward great apes because children are typically the focus of conservation education programs. We used the Great Ape Attitude Questionnaire to test the Contact Hypothesis, which posits that proximity to great ape habitat influences pro-conservation attitudes toward great apes. Ilonga-Poo children who live in closer contact with wild bonobos felt greater responsibility to protect great apes compared to those in Kinshasa who live outside the natural habitat of great apes. These results suggest that among participants in the DRC, spatial proximity to a species fosters a greater sense of responsibility to protect and conserve. These results have implications for the successful implementation of great ape reintroduction programs in the Congo Basin. The data analyzed in this study were collected in 2010 and therefore provide a baseline for longitudinal study of this reintroduction site.

Assessing conservation attitudes and behaviors of Congolese children neighboring the world's first bonobo (Pan paniscus) release site.

Shared Landscapes: A Biosocial Analysis for Primate Conservation

Primate sanctuaries provide a solution for the increasing number of primates being taken from their home countries to support the demands of the illegal pet trade. To help end the primate trade and raise awareness about the risks this trade poses to delicate ecosystems, sanctuaries are increasingly developing conservation education programs. Education and raising awareness must be one of the primary roles of primate sanctuaries. However, there are few evaluations of the impacts of conservation education programs for school children published in scientific literature. To address this gap, we conducted an evaluation of educator-led visits of school children at Fundació Mona, a primate sanctuary located in Catalunya, Spain. Questionnaires for an experimental and control group were conducted with 3,205 school children, ages 8 to 18 from 83 different schools, to evaluate changes in their attitudes and knowledge of primate welfare and conservation. We found that Fundació Mona’s program of environmental activities had a positive impact on children, both female and male students, in terms of attitudes and knowledge of primate welfare and conservation. Although female students gave better responses regarding welfare and conservation, all children showed gains in pro-conservation responses. This study demonstrates that environmental education activities focused on children can help shape a change in knowledge and attitudes toward primate welfare and conservation. Educator-led visits of school children to primate sanctuaries such as Fundació Mona can also serve to amplify biodiversity conservation messages among children and their families. We encourage primate sanctuaries to promote empirical studies of attitudes and knowledge of primate welfare and conservation and to conduct systematical evaluations to strengthen their educational activities.

The impact of sanctuary visits on children’s knowledge and attitudes toward primate welfare and conservation

Biodiversity is being lost at unprecedented rates. Limited conservation resources must be prioritized strategically to maximize impact. Here we introduce novel methods to assess a small-scale conservation education program in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Lola ya Bonobo is the world’s only sanctuary for one of humans’ two closest living relatives, bonobos, orphaned by the illegal trade in bushmeat and exotic pets. The sanctuary is situated on the edge of the country’s capital, Kinshasa, its most densely populated region and a hub for the illegal wildlife trade that is imperiling bonobos and other endangered species. Lola ya Bonobo implements an education program specifically designed to combat this trade. Previous evaluation demonstrated the program’s efficacy in transmitting conservation knowledge to children. In Study 1, we use novel implicit tests to measure conservation attitudes before and after an educational visit and document a significant increase in children’s pro-conservation attitudes following direct exposure to bonobos and the education program. In Study 2, we show that adults exhibit high levels of conservation knowledge even before visiting the sanctuary, likely due to the sanctuary’s longstanding education efforts in Kinshasa. In Study 3, we explored adults’ empathetic attitudes towards bonobos before and after the sanctuary tour. Our results support the conservation education hypothesis that conservation education has improved relevant knowledge and attitudes in Kinshasa. Crucially, the present study validates new methods for implicitly assessing attitudes about environmental and social issues. These methods overcome typical biases in survey sampling and can be employed in diverse populations, including those with low literacy rates.

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Fanny Minesi

Papers

Implicit Measures Help Demonstrate the Value of Conservation Education in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Assessing conservation attitudes and behaviors of Congolese children neighboring the world's first bonobo (Pan paniscus) release site.