Percepción de la fauna como aporte para la conservación del Cóndor Andino en Pintag-Ecuador

Fauna perception as a contribution of the Andean Condor conservation in Pintag-Ecuador.

Abstract

People perception towards animals helps to understand the role of fauna within society and ecosystems, constituting a tool for the management of conservation programs due to the problems of coexistence between species, and the incompatibility of human activities. In this research article, the differences of the perception in the Pintag - Quito rural population was analyzed, with the short form of the Differential Semantics of Companion Animals questionnaire of Poresky, with three species of animals: the condor (Vultur gryphus), the páramo wolf (Pseudalopex culpaeus) and the domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris). It was assumed that the dependent variables of Intelligence, Kindness, Agreeableness, Warmth and Affection would be different in each species under study. The results of this research regarding demographic data did not present any statistical association, which confirms the homogeneity of perception in the population. In most of the perception variables there are statistical differences (P<0.05) between the dog and the other two species, established by the Kruskall and Wallis non-parametric test, inclining the positive perception tendencies towards domestic canine. Comparing the results of this study against populations with closer proximity to wildlife, the perception gap is greater, concluding that one of the strongest components in wildlife conservation programs should be environmental education in rural areas so that the population surround the local species knows more about wildlife.