American Residents' Knowledge of Brown Bear Safety and Appropriate Human Behavior
The popularity of viewing wildlife, specifically brown bears ( Ursus arctos ), is increasing rapidly throughout North America. In addition, population distributions of both humans and brown bears are expanding, creating larger areas of overlap and increased possibility of human-bear interactions. Un...
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ftdatacite:10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5296204 2023-05-15T18:42:15+02:00 American Residents' Knowledge of Brown Bear Safety and Appropriate Human Behavior Nettles, John 2021 https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5296204 https://figshare.com/collections/American_Residents_Knowledge_of_Brown_Bear_Safety_and_Appropriate_Human_Behavior/5296204 unknown figshare Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode cc-by-4.0 CC-BY 50202 Conservation and Biodiversity FOS Biological sciences Ecology 50211 Wildlife and Habitat Management FOS Earth and related environmental sciences 150606 Tourist Behaviour and Visitor Experience FOS Economics and business 60201 Behavioural Ecology Collection article 2021 ftdatacite https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5296204 2021-11-05T12:55:41Z The popularity of viewing wildlife, specifically brown bears ( Ursus arctos ), is increasing rapidly throughout North America. In addition, population distributions of both humans and brown bears are expanding, creating larger areas of overlap and increased possibility of human-bear interactions. Unfortunately, many who encounter brown bears may have never received any form of bear safety training or education. As a result, it is important for wildlife and park managers to understand the general level of bear safety knowledge and identify potential areas of improvement. To do so, this study employed a quantitative self-assessment questionnaire, distributed online to a representative sample of the American public. The questionnaires asked respondents about their experience viewing bears and then asked them to rate the likelihood of performing several actions as well as the perceived appropriateness of each behavior for 12 different bear viewing scenarios. Of 511 complete responses, 40% reported seeing a wild brown bear, but the majority struggled to identify brown versus black bears in photographs, suggesting species-specific behavioral recommendations may be ineffective. Further, several factors were significant predictors of an individual’s perceived appropriateness of the listed human behaviors, including age, gender identity, source of bear safety information, and experience with bears. Results were then used to develop a set of meaningful recommendations to improve the efficacy of current bear management and safety education. Primary recommendations include 1) Increase the focus on appropriate rather than inappropriate behaviors, explaining the reasoning behind such suggestions, 2) Pay special attention to overly confident individuals or those with more experience, and 3) Use photographs, videos, and virtual reality experiences to better prepare visitors for a range of potential encounter scenarios. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ursus arctos DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) |
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DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) |
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50202 Conservation and Biodiversity FOS Biological sciences Ecology 50211 Wildlife and Habitat Management FOS Earth and related environmental sciences 150606 Tourist Behaviour and Visitor Experience FOS Economics and business 60201 Behavioural Ecology |
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50202 Conservation and Biodiversity FOS Biological sciences Ecology 50211 Wildlife and Habitat Management FOS Earth and related environmental sciences 150606 Tourist Behaviour and Visitor Experience FOS Economics and business 60201 Behavioural Ecology Nettles, John American Residents' Knowledge of Brown Bear Safety and Appropriate Human Behavior |
topic_facet |
50202 Conservation and Biodiversity FOS Biological sciences Ecology 50211 Wildlife and Habitat Management FOS Earth and related environmental sciences 150606 Tourist Behaviour and Visitor Experience FOS Economics and business 60201 Behavioural Ecology |
description |
The popularity of viewing wildlife, specifically brown bears ( Ursus arctos ), is increasing rapidly throughout North America. In addition, population distributions of both humans and brown bears are expanding, creating larger areas of overlap and increased possibility of human-bear interactions. Unfortunately, many who encounter brown bears may have never received any form of bear safety training or education. As a result, it is important for wildlife and park managers to understand the general level of bear safety knowledge and identify potential areas of improvement. To do so, this study employed a quantitative self-assessment questionnaire, distributed online to a representative sample of the American public. The questionnaires asked respondents about their experience viewing bears and then asked them to rate the likelihood of performing several actions as well as the perceived appropriateness of each behavior for 12 different bear viewing scenarios. Of 511 complete responses, 40% reported seeing a wild brown bear, but the majority struggled to identify brown versus black bears in photographs, suggesting species-specific behavioral recommendations may be ineffective. Further, several factors were significant predictors of an individual’s perceived appropriateness of the listed human behaviors, including age, gender identity, source of bear safety information, and experience with bears. Results were then used to develop a set of meaningful recommendations to improve the efficacy of current bear management and safety education. Primary recommendations include 1) Increase the focus on appropriate rather than inappropriate behaviors, explaining the reasoning behind such suggestions, 2) Pay special attention to overly confident individuals or those with more experience, and 3) Use photographs, videos, and virtual reality experiences to better prepare visitors for a range of potential encounter scenarios. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Nettles, John |
author_facet |
Nettles, John |
author_sort |
Nettles, John |
title |
American Residents' Knowledge of Brown Bear Safety and Appropriate Human Behavior |
title_short |
American Residents' Knowledge of Brown Bear Safety and Appropriate Human Behavior |
title_full |
American Residents' Knowledge of Brown Bear Safety and Appropriate Human Behavior |
title_fullStr |
American Residents' Knowledge of Brown Bear Safety and Appropriate Human Behavior |
title_full_unstemmed |
American Residents' Knowledge of Brown Bear Safety and Appropriate Human Behavior |
title_sort |
american residents' knowledge of brown bear safety and appropriate human behavior |
publisher |
figshare |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5296204 https://figshare.com/collections/American_Residents_Knowledge_of_Brown_Bear_Safety_and_Appropriate_Human_Behavior/5296204 |
genre |
Ursus arctos |
genre_facet |
Ursus arctos |
op_rights |
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode cc-by-4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5296204 |
_version_ |
1766231884791021568 |