Residents' Knowledge and Protection Willingness of Otters in a Megacity in China

ABSTRACT

In today's rapidly urbanizing world, the survival of wildlife in cities faces significant challenges, and the attitudes of urban residents toward wildlife play a crucial role in their survival. Otters, as top predators in freshwater ecosystems who are highly sensitive to environmental changes, had once gone extinct in Shenzhen—a megacity exemplifying rapid urbanization in China—but reappeared in 2020. We conducted a first field survey on otter population across Shenzhen's river systems, employing transect survey and interviews with local residents to assess both otter population status and residents' knowledge and protection willingness of otters. We did not obtain any reliable records of otter activity during our surveys. Our interviews revealed that 60% of the interviewees knew otters, although only 34% of them correctly identified the image of an otter. Moreover, we found that men and those with more knowledge of general wildlife possessed a higher level of knowledge of otters. Interestingly, we found both low and high levels of otter knowledge associated with stronger protection willingness, whereas intermediate levels of knowledge were linked to weaker support. Our study provides essential baseline data to support future conservation initiatives, such as conservation outreach campaigns and citizen science projects to facilitate the recovery of otter population in Shenzhen.