Conhecimentos e atitudes das pessoas em relação às serpentes no Nordeste do Brasil

Abstract

The ethnozoology studies the interactions between human and animals, and it also seeks to understand what influences people's attitudes towards this group. Education positively influences people's attitudes toward snakes, a group which has been traditionally target of many negative human attitudes. This study aims to investigate the knowledge and attitudes of students and professionals towards snakes. Data were collected between July 2010 and December 2013. A total of 1,142 questionnaires were applied to basic and higher level students and police officers who would work in the countryside of Ceará, Northeastern Brazil. Most of the participants would act correctly when faced with a snake out of its natural habitat. There were no differences in the number of right or wrong attitudes when the "Biology" group with "Police" group and "Other Education" group. The subjects "Diversity" and "Accident Hazards" were the most often chosen by the participants. "Biology" group was most interested on "Diversity", and "Police" group was most interested in the "Accident Hazards". A total of 31 popular names of snakes were cited. The first 10 totaled almost all the citations (93.21%), especially "Jiboia/Cobra-de-veado", "Cascavel" and "Coral". Names of non-native snakes of Ceará and Brazil were cited, as well as animals that are not snakes. The level of education or instruction are factors that should be considered by public policies in order to reach attitude's changes towards the natural environment. Native fauna is better known than that of other regions and this may be the result of an increased probability of encounter with these animals. The influence of the media may be the reason of the citation of non-native snakes. This study indicates that people may be changing conception toward snakes and may be the result of greater dissemination of scientific information.