Animal encounters in zoos – the effect on learning, conservation actions and animal welfare

Zoos have the mission to inform and educate their visitors about the threats that animals and nature face due to our way of living. The goal is to help visitors gain knowledge and influence their behavior towards a more sustainable use of the Earth's resources. Zoos keep various animal species that can be involved to create positive experiences and emotions in visitors. Experiences with animals should be positive for both the animals and the visitors as well as influence the visitors to change their behavior to a more sustainable lifestyle. However, few studies show if this is the case or not. 

The purpose of the project is to investigate whether different types of animal encounters in zoos increase the likelihood of visitors gaining more knowledge resulting in a change of behavior. At the same time, we want to study how these activities affect the welfare of the involved animals. Our goal is to help zoos optimize how they use animals in their planned activities to enhance learning while also changing their visitors' behavior towards a more sustainable lifestyle.