Children's knowledge and contact with native fauna: a comparative study between Portugal and Spain

The present study compared Portuguese and Spanish children in the 6(th) year of primary school in terms of their knowledge and live experience of animals from the Iberian Peninsula (IP) and the African savannah. A questionnaire was administered to 420 children from state schools, 215 from Portugal and 205 from Spain. The questionnaire included photos of eleven mammals from each region. The pupils had to identify them, to say if they had observed them live and where, and if they are native in the IP. The results showed a greater knowledge of both groups of the savannah species, also the ones most had seen live. However, the Spanish children had a better performance in the identification of the native mammals and which animals are native on IP, probably because these children are from a less urban zone, with more direct contact with some of the species presented. The school does not seem to play, in either group, an important role in the learning about native species. Boys from both countries performed better than girls on the issues under study. A high percentage of children from both countries think that several of the savannah species occur wild on the IP.