{"id":68987,"date":"2023-07-14T01:21:40","date_gmt":"2023-07-14T05:21:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=68987"},"modified":"2023-07-14T01:21:40","modified_gmt":"2023-07-14T05:21:40","slug":"children-have-a-skewed-view-of-the-natural-world-but-it-doesnt-have-to-be-that-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/children-have-a-skewed-view-of-the-natural-world-but-it-doesnt-have-to-be-that-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Children have a skewed view of the natural world \u2013 but it doesn\u2019t have to be that way"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Children\u2019s books and TV shows are full of animals, but how well do kids really know the natural world?<\/p>\n

The vast majority of the world\u2019s known animal species \u2013\u00a096.9%<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 are invertebrates, such as insects, snails, spiders and worms. But when my colleagues and I asked a large group of children to draw animals from their garden or local park, most of the\u00a0resulting pictures<\/a>\u00a0were of mammals or birds.<\/p>\n

This suggests there\u2019s a disconnect between children\u2019s perception of the wildlife surrounding them and what is actually there. If we don\u2019t address this, we risk leaving children with a skewed view of the natural world, which has implications for efforts to tackle biodiversity loss and climate change.<\/p>\n

We asked over 400 children aged between seven and 11, under the supervision of their teachers, to draw a picture of their garden or local park, and to label all the animals they thought lived there.<\/p>\n

We collected 401 drawings in total. We counted how many different types of animal were drawn by each child, and which were drawn the most and least often.<\/p>\n

We found that the children\u2019s drawings did not reflect the make up of the natural world very well. We noticed that 80.5% of drawings contained at least one mammal and 68.6% featured at least one bird.<\/p>\n

In the outside world, though, just\u00a04.7% of animal species described by science<\/a>\u00a0are vertebrates, such as mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish.<\/p>\n

A third of the drawings contained no invertebrates at all. And when asked to name the creatures they\u2019d drawn, the children were far less able to give detailed information about insects and other invertebrates. While they could often give specific species names for mammals and birds, this was not often the case for these smaller, overlooked animals.<\/p>\n

For instance, many children were able to identify a bird as being a robin in particular. For insects, the equivalent might be being able to point to a red admiral butterfly. But the children mostly labelled butterflies simply as \u201cbutterfly\u201d.<\/p>\n

Biases matter<\/strong><\/h4>\n

This bias mirrors\u00a0those we previously found in nature documentaries<\/a>, which in turn reflect people\u2019s tendency to\u00a0pay more attention to larger, more charismatic species<\/a>\u00a0that are more similar to humans than invertebrates.<\/p>\n

This can have knock-on effects for conservation funding. The animals we consider more attractive\u00a0receive higher levels of support<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Insects and other invertebrates are crucial to the functioning of global ecosystems, and they will need our efforts to protect them as we attempt to combat climate change and biodiversity loss.<\/p>\n

We know that when children spend\u00a0time in nature<\/a>\u00a0they become adults who care about the environment. But many\u00a0children are growing up without<\/a>\u00a0a\u00a0strong connection to the natural world<\/a>, even though we know spending time in nature is\u00a0good for them<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Children in many countries have\u00a0dramatically less<\/a>\u00a0freedom than they did in the past to roam and play freely in the area around their homes. In the UK, they now spend\u00a0half as much time<\/a>\u00a0playing outside as their parents did when they were young.<\/p>\n

It also isn\u2019t inevitable that children have a bias towards mammals, which probably stems from the wider cultural emphasis on mammals and birds. Parents and teachers can help children develop a good understanding of what nature is really like by helping them see more wildlife up close.<\/p>\n

How to introduce children to invertebrates<\/strong><\/h4>\n

When out with your child in your garden or local park, you can help them expand their understanding of the wildlife around them \u2013 and set them on the path to being the ecologists we\u2019ll need in the future.<\/p>\n

You may be able to spot black, hairy caterpillars on\u00a0stinging nettles<\/a>\u00a0around July. These are most likely the caterpillars of the\u00a0red admiral<\/a>,\u00a0peacock<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0small tortoiseshell<\/a>\u00a0butterflies. These are some of the UK\u2019s largest, easiest-to-spot butterflies and caterpillars.<\/p>\n

Turn over any brick or stone and you are more likely than not to find some\u00a0woodlice<\/a>. The females carry their young around in a pouch on their undersides, just like a kangaroo. And children may be delighted to learn that woodlice can\u00a0drink through their bums<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dragonflies<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0damselflies<\/a>\u00a0are easy to spot and impressive, fast fliers. They are also excellent indicators of good water quality. This is because their nymphs \u2013 the young larval form \u2013 live underwater and need clear water to be able to hunt.<\/p>\n

Author Bio:<\/strong> Kate Howlett is a PhD candidate in Zoology at the University of Cambridge<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Children\u2019s books and TV shows are full of animals, but how well do kids really know the natural world? The vast majority of the world\u2019s known animal species \u2013\u00a096.9%\u00a0\u2013 are invertebrates, such as insects, snails, spiders and worms. But when my colleagues and I asked a large group of children to draw animals from their […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[128],"tags":[9078],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-68987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment","tag-natural-world"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nChildren have a skewed view of the natural world \u2013 but it doesn\u2019t have to be that way - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/children-have-a-skewed-view-of-the-natural-world-but-it-doesnt-have-to-be-that-way\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Children have a skewed view of the natural world \u2013 but it doesn\u2019t have to be that way - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Children\u2019s books and TV shows are full of animals, but how well do kids really know the natural world? 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