Why conservationists should heed Pokémon
Balmford, A.; Clegg, L.; Coulson, T.; Taylor, J.
Science 295(5564): 2367
2002
ISSN/ISBN: 0036-8075 PMID: 11924673 Document Number: 541916
Children's knowledge about nature was evaluated. As industrialization and urbanization reduce direct interactions of humans with nature, their innate interest in the diversity of life may be becoming directed toward human artifacts, which would have potentially serious consequences for biodiversity conservation. Each of 109 U.K. primary schoolchildren aged 4-11 was asked to identify, from flashcards, 10 kinds of British wildlife and 10 characters from the Pokemon trading cards. The results showed that, during their primary school years, children appear to learn more about Pokemon than about their native wildlife and that these children enter secondary school without the ability to name 50 percent of common wildlife types.