Does colour matter? The influence of animal warning coloration on human emotions and willingness to protect them
Abstract
The perceived popularity of animals plays a crucial role in their support by the general public and consequently in the success of conservation efforts. We experimentally investigated with Slovak schoolchildren the role of animal coloration and basic human emotions in the willingness to protect animals. Both unaltered and experimentally manipulated pictures of aposematic animals increased perceived danger. Spiders and snakes were perceived as more dangerous/disgusting than other taxa, particularly birds and mammals. Children showed significantly a stronger willingness to protect aposematic animals over inconspicuous, cryptic animals. Perceived disgust and danger of animals negatively correlated with a willingness to protect them with females showing greater fear of animals than males. Our results suggest that the use of aposematic animals in conservation programs may increase their popularity and public support.
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Human perceptions of wildlife and coloration are complicated by myths and folklore that suggest complex spiritual and symbolic interpretations of coloration.
“Human perceptions of wildlife and coloration are further complicated by myths and folklore that suggest complex spiritual and symbolic interpretations of coloration (Prokop & Fančovičová, 2013).”
From Of Rarity and Symbolism: Understanding Human Perceptions of Charismatic Color Morphs (2024) · cites this paper as Prokop & Fančovičová, 2013
Fear of predators can be overt and explicit, subtly changing our responses to these species.
“This fear of predators can be overt and explicit, subtly changing our responses to these species (Clinchy et al., 2011;Prokop & Fančovičová, 2013;Mobbs et al., 2015;Nyhus, 2016).”
From Of Rarity and Symbolism: Understanding Human Perceptions of Charismatic Color Morphs (2024) · cites this paper as Prokop & Fančovičová, 2013
Cites
ÖHman, A. (1986) · Psychophysiology · doi:10.1111/j.1469-8986.1986.tb00608.x · Cited by 738 · see citing works
The Adaptive Significance of Coloration in Mammals
CARO, T. (2005) · BioScience · doi:10.1641/0006-3568(2005)055[0125:tasoci]2.0.co;2 · Cited by 589 · cited 4× · see citing works
“This suggests that humans decode the warning signals of animals correctly, just as their natural predators (see Ruxton et al., 2004) and that colours play a prominent role in human interactions with other animals (Caro, 2005).”
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Of Rarity and Symbolism: Understanding Human Perceptions of Charismatic Color Morphs
Williams, T. D., Kreling, S. E. S., Stanton, L. A., Wilkinson, C. E., Estien, C. O., Schell, C. J., & Carlen, E. J. (2024) · Human Ecology · doi:10.1007/s10745-024-00492-7 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
“This fear of predators can be overt and explicit, subtly changing our responses to these species (Clinchy et al., 2011; Prokop & Fančovičová, 2013; Mobbs et al., 2015; Nyhus, 2016).”
- Authors
- Prokop, P., & Fančovičová, J.
- Affiliations
- University of Trnava (SK)
- Corresponding author
- Prokop, P.
- Venue
- Animal Conservation
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2013-01-21
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 458-466
- ISSN
- 1367-9430 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-1795
- OpenAlex
- W1888149674
- Cited by
- 152
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 3
- FWCI
- 13.97
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Animal Conservation (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Animal and Plant Science Education
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law › Conservation, Ecology, Wildlife Education
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Keywords
- aposematism, emotions, perceived danger, disgust, elementary school students, sex differences, spiders, snakes, conservation outreach
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