Please Touch the Hedgehog: Haptic Exploration of Mounted Specimens Increases Inspection Time and Positive Evaluation of an Exhibit

ABSTRACT Natural history museums with their huge collections and exhibits seem to be particularly well suited to create an understanding and awareness of biodiversity. Mounted specimens are typical learning objects in natural history museums. The visual sense obviously plays a role here, but the haptic exploration of certain elements can also be conducive to learning. By combining an observational study and a mixed‐method study using a questionnaire and a semistructured interview, we analyzed how visitors use, evaluate, and benefit from the haptic exploration of mounted specimens. We also investigated whether a combination of a fur piece and a photo would be a less conservation‐sensitive alternative for mounted specimens. Although both studies indicate that visitors only spent a relatively short time at the exhibit, the possibility of haptic exploration led them to engage with more objects and to spend more time with them. This was independent of whether the mounted specimens or the combination of a photo and a piece of fur was presented. In addition, positive evaluations tended to occur more frequently in the conditions in which touching was permitted, whereas negative evaluations were more frequent in the conditions without haptic experience and the lack of opportunity for interaction was often criticized in these conditions.