Knowledge about bats: implications of popular perception for conservation and prevention of zoonotic diseases
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15451/ec2026-02-15-07-1-12Keywords:
Brazil, Chiroptera, mammals, Interviews, ethnoconservation,, empirical knowledgeAbstract
Understanding the popular perception and knowledge presented by a target population is the first step whether we want to optimize conservation efforts. Studies of environment perception can shed some light on society's empirical knowledge about bats for future improvement of environmental and health education. We evaluated the implications of local knowledge about bats on the prevention of bat-related zoonoses, as well as on bat conservation and understanding of ecosystem services performed by bats, and the effect of age and educational level on the local knowledge. With a semi-structured interview, we had 111 participants, passers-by on a square. Those participants who know more about the biology of bats also know more about the prevention of zoonoses and importance of bats, but not about their conservation. There was no relationship between the answers related to the importance of bats with those on conservation, nor between the answers about conservation with those on prevention of zoonosis. Years of study (scholarity) did not interfere with knowledge about conservation aspects and age was not related to the importance of bats conservation, and prevention of zoonosis. We argue that having knowledge about bats is not enough to awaken practical actions for bat conservation.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Elizabete Lourenço, Luciana de Moraes Costa, Daniel Damasceno Junior, Michele da Costa Pinheiro, Júlia Linz Luz, Kátia Maria Famadas
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