Kazaho Tsumura

Zoos serve as educational spaces that can connect people with wildlife and environmental issues and inspire societal changes. To fulfill this role effectively, it is essential to develop educational programs that foster empathy for animals among visitors and promote respectful actions toward animals and the environment. Since 2022, Kyoto City Zoo has implemented an educational initiative called 'MIKKE: Let's Find What Guinea Pigs Like’ with the aim of cultivating interest in animals and animal welfare. The program is designed to encourage participants to actively engage in learning about guinea pigs by designing their living spaces and observing how they interact with them. This study aimed to assess the educational effectiveness of the MIKKE program. From September to October 2024, we recorded and analyzed conversations from 63 families who participated in MIKKE, to examine what topics they discussed during the program. Each sentence in the recorded conversation was categorized based on its content and quantified in order to compare frequency of each category. In addition, a questionnaire was conducted to 51 groups from April to May 2025 to investigate aspects not covered by the conversation survey, such as satisfaction with the program and awareness of guinea pig welfare. The conversation survey revealed that a diverse array of topics was covered, including appearance attractiveness, the environment in a cage and the ecology of guinea pigs. Additionally, an increase in children's responses that considered the environment in living space based on the ecology was observed in the questionnaire item on guinea pig preference. Considering that the participants focused on the animals’ behavior and ecology through observation, they developed a strong interest in appropriate living conditions for animals, indicating that the program's objectives were achieved.