Engaging zoo visitors at chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) exhibits promotes positive attitudes toward chimpanzees and conservation

Understanding how visitor engagement with interpretation impacts on their attitudes to conservation is necessary to develop effective zoo-based conservation education. We examined whether facilitating an emotional connection between a visitor and an individual chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) was more successful at enhancing attitudes than standard zoo interpretation. Attitudes were assessed post visit using a 12-item questionnaire on predisposition toward nature, attitudes to chimpanzees, and conservation. Visitors at two chimpanzee exhibits were allocated to an emotion enhancement condition (n = 227) or a control condition (n = 203). At one exhibit, visitors were also allocated to an interactive task (location) without emotional enhancement (n = 69). Participants were also recruited to an online control condition (n = 216). Principal component analyses identified two components labeled as Naturalistic, which refers to interest and affection for wildlife and nature, and Humanistic, which refers to interest and affection for individual animals or species with anthropomorphic characteristics. At one exhibit, both Naturalistic and Humanistic attitudes were significantly more positive following the emotion enhancement condition than for the control condition. At the other exhibit, Naturalistic and Humanistic components did not differ between conditions, and there was no overall difference between online and on-site conditions. While emotional enhancement may be effective in promoting pro-conservation attitudes, this is dependent on contextual factors (e.g., exhibit design and interpretation). Attitudes were also influenced by stable visitor characteristics (pet ownership and zoo membership) and are therefore likely to prove difficult to change, at least during a single zoo visit. Visitor and animal characteristics, and the interpretation of the exhibit all shape the visitor experience; understanding these interactions is important in facilitating effective zoo conservation education