Less charismatic animals are more likely to be “road killed”: human attitudes towards small animals in Brazilian roads

Abstract

ResumoAnimais menos carismáticos são mais propensos a atropelamento: atitudes humanas em relação a pequenos animais nas estradas brasileiras. Estradas são fontes longas e intermitentes de diminuição da vida selvagem devido aos seus efeitos indiretos, como fragmentação de hábitat, ou seus efeitos diretos, como a constante mortalidade por atropelamentos. Assim, alguns estudos indicam que parte desses atropelamentos pode ser intencional e passível de ser evitada. Nós investigamos se diferentes grupos de pequenos animais apresentaram diferentes taxas de atropelamento e como o "carisma" afeta as chances de sobrevivência de um animal nas rodovias. Durante nosso experimento, nós quantiicamos as taxas de atropelamento de modelos de aranhas, serpentes, pintos e folhas de árvore (controle) em três rodovias de diferentes volumes de tráfego. Constatamos que serpentes e aranhas foram consistentemente atropeladas com maior frequência que os pintos e as folhas. Também observamos que os pintos foram os únicos modelos resgatados pelos humanos. Concluímos que as chances de sobrevivência dos pintos é a maior entre os modelos testados e isso se deve ao valor carismático atribuído a eles pelos seres humanos, em comparação a serpentes e aranhas. Sugerimos a veiculação de campanhas na mídia que visem a aumentar a conscientização do público quanto à conservação da vida selvagem como uma ferramenta útil para solucionar o problema do atropelamento intencional de pequenos animais. Palavras-chave:Aranhas; Conlitos com a vida selvagem; Conservação; Ecologia de estradas; Serpentes AbstractRoads are long and intermittent sources of wildlife loss due to their indirect effects, such as fragmentation of habitat, or their direct effects, such as constant mortality by run-over. Thus, some studies indicate that a portion of these run-over incidents may be intentional and could be avoided. We investigated whether various groups of small animals had different run-over rates and how "charisma" affects the survival chances of an animal on the roads. During our experiment, we quantiied run-over rates for models of spiders, snakes, chicks, and tree leaves (control) on three roads with different trafic volumes. We found out that snakes and spiders were consistently ran over with a higher frequency than chicks and leaves. We also observed that chicks were the only models rescued by human beings. We concluded that the survival chances of chicks are the highest among the models tested and this is due to the charismatic value attributed to them by human beings, when compared to snakes and spiders. We suggest the broadcasting of campaigns in the media to increase public awareness regarding wildlife conservation as a useful tool to solve the problem of intentional run over of small animals.

Formal education, previous interaction and perception influence the attitudes of people toward the conservation of snakes in a large urban center of northeastern Brazil

“…As previously discussed, the low level of interaction between animals and the human population leads to a higher rate of negative perceptions and fear among the population. Rejected animals, such as snakes, suffer even more in this type of interaction [ 15 , 17 , 27 , 28 ]. Thus, it is important to understand how people perceive and deal with these animals and whether they are conscious of the importance of conserving the snakes.…”

“…Snakes have historically been persecuted and the target of negative attitudes in many countries [ 15 , 17 , 20 , 28 ]. In rural areas of Brazil, the most common attitude of people when they find snakes is simply to kill them [ 25 , 29 ].…”

Reframing urban “wildlife” to promote inclusive conservation science and practice

“…Overlooking plants, invertebrates, amphibians, and lower trophic levels as urban wildlife can influence public perception and public willingness to contribute to the conservation of these taxa, with city dwellers more willing to protect charismatic megafauna flagship species above all (Mesquita et al 2014;Colléony et al 2017;Curtin and Papworth 2020). Although invertebrates are essential to urban ecosystem functioning (McIntyre 2000), arthropods are often dismissed as harmful pests or a nuisance in cities-associated with filth and sickness by residents-and not prioritized in urban wildlife conservation (Hunter and Hunter 2008).…”

Coloring and size influence preferences for imaginary animals, and can predict actual donations to species‐specific conservation charities

“…Animal type A was also least likely to be selected in the DCE. Insects are often perceived as less attractive than other animals, particularly those which are bug-like (Cardoso, Erwin, Borges, & New, 2011;Mesquita, Mendes Lipinski, & Sá Polidoro, 2015).…”