Citizen eyes on elusive wildlife: Assessing public appreciation for urban wild mammals

Urbanisation is reshaping ecosystems, posing both challenges and opportunities for biodiversity conservation, particularly for urban mammals. We investigated public appreciation of 15 wild mammal species occurring in cities through a visual survey of 1000 respondents across ten Italian cities. Participants ranked species by desirability in urban environments. Hedgehogs, squirrels, rabbits, and roe deer were consistently preferred, possibly for their broad urban presence, whereas rats, wild boar, and coypus were less positively rated, possibly because of the widespread fears of health risks, damage, or invasiveness. Wolves elicited polarised reactions, possibly reflecting complex cultural meanings, including fascination and human-wildlife conflict issues. Geographic variation was marked: some species were preferred where familiar ("familiarity effect"), whereas large carnivores were highly valued where absent ("distance effect"). Visual survey tools effectively captured instinctive responses. Results stress the need for localised, species-specific education and conservation strategies that integrate citizen-science to improve coexistence in urban landscapes.