Through the lens of the talent development megamodel and the higher mastery framework, this instrumental case study examines the career trajectory of a biological anthropologist, Barbara J. King, who became a persuasive science communicator in the struggle for animal justice. Much of her impact stems from her development in two career paths, one…

In this article, we adopt assemblage as "methodology" and as a way to foreground the vitality and relational agency of other species as they encounter humans. Research as assemblage is a process of becoming with others, and we experienced that ontological process during three environmental excursions as we became entangled in…

Choreographed encounters with death in Copenhagen Zoo, such as school and public dissections, emphasize the importance of touch and are underpinned by the moral imperative to understand the nature of life and death. Such encounters are framed by zoo educators as contributing to a deeper environmental awareness. Taking the role of dead animals in…

This exploratory study assessed links among children's moral concern and their ideas about the rights and protection of companion, farm, wild animals and ecosystems. Sixty-one children responded to three interview questions that were coded as either anthropocentric or biocentric in orientation. Results revealed unique links among children's moral…

Many science departments encourage students to gain experience conducting research. However, finding ecological research projects that allow students to test a hypothesis in the field, over the relatively short time span of a semester, can be challenging. This article describes an inquiry-based research activity examining the influence that urban…

Biodiversity loss is one of the biggest environmental issues in the world today and the biodiversity literacy of citizens can be key to counteracting this. Considering that children can be change agents and actively take part in decision-making from early years, we have assessed the native fauna identification skills of Primary School students…

It is crucial that future generations have the knowledge about nature and the willingness to make right decisions for sustainable development, including the halt of global biodiversity loss. Perception of species and the ability to identify wild species (i.e. animals, plants and fungi) are fundamental for the understanding of biodiversity.…

This article bewilders dominant discourses about child-animal relations by acknowledging and challenging the work of Gail Melson who positions animals as providing emotional, social and pedagogical support for children. Melson's psychological approach rests upon implicit assumptions that shape and support anthropocentrism whilst also critiquing a…

Climate change is a well-documented challenge for human societies where human actions have spurred global warming leading to climate breakdown. Ecological disasters are already affecting the mental health of many people, and this is escalating. By painting elephants, I address "ambiguous" loss and demonstrate the power of art therapy to…

Large carnivore predators can be controversial animals, but sustainable coexistence with humans depends on peoples' tolerance and willingness to support their conservation. We conducted a short-term study on a sample of Slovak schoolchildren (aged 9-15) aimed at changing attitudes toward the grey wolf. The intervention consisted of videos and PPT…

Community and city Facebook pages have proliferated in popularity in the last several years, offering a forum for residents to openly and publicly negotiate relations with urban wildlife, including coyotes. Contemporary shifts in North American coyote geographies (and the concomitant rise in community social media sites) thus open up interesting…

Invasive alien species (IAS) are one of the main drivers of global biodiversity loss. The present study aims at performing a diagnostic analysis of the perceptions of Primary and Secondary school students about causes, consequences and solutions of the presence of IAS in the environment. The influence of educational level, knowledge of the meaning…

Posthumanist orientations have underlined the need to foster non-hierarchical relations with other-than-human beings to adequately attend to planetary crises and help life to survive and flourish. Since a posthumanist critique towards natural sciences has mostly leaned on questioning the premise of human subjects making sense of objectified…

The Philippines is one of the world's top conservation priority areas, yet unique species in the country are threatened. However, Filipinos still have poor awareness of Philippine wildlife and the country's biodiversity situation. A resolution to this situation is pro-environmental behavior, which can be achieved as an indirect benefit of…

Regular evaluation of environmental education is important for quality assurance and the self-assessment of educational institutions such as zoos. However, capacity is often lacking. Therefore, this study presents instruments that can be used to track the impact of educational programs on connection to nature, interest in species conservation,…