{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,6]],"date-time":"2026-03-06T16:20:52Z","timestamp":1772814052404,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":52,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,5]],"date-time":"2026-03-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1772668800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Wild"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The world is experiencing incredible biodiversity loss, including the decline of iconic species, such as elephants. The species faces an uncertain future due to habitat loss, human-elephant conflict, poaching and climate change, reminding us of the urgency of acting on a local and global scale. Art has historically been a powerful medium for expressing ideas and emotions, fostering deep connections for people. Therefore, this paper explores the impact of the sharing of scientific content through dance on conservation values in young people. Understanding conservation needs and analyzing what drives people to gain an emotional affinity towards the environment has shown the potential to support and innovate traditional education. The work presented here uses a dance piece, performed through a choreographic process with dance students, to educate an audience about the importance and behavior of the African savannah elephant and the threats to its survival. Our findings indicated differences between the level of knowledge and opinion of the audience throughout the different phases of the methodology explored here, revealing that dance (and artistic) education can provide knowledge and stimulate more empathy for species conservation.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/wild3010012","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,6]],"date-time":"2026-03-06T09:22:14Z","timestamp":1772788934000},"page":"12","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Protecting Elephants Through Science and Dance: A Powerful Environmental Education Approach"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"3","author":[{"given":"Ana Raquel","family":"de Sales","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biology, Campus Universit\u00e1rio de Santiago, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5537-6254","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kate Elizabeth","family":"Evans","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Elephants for Africa, Maun P.O. Box HA148 HAK, Botswana"},{"name":"Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, University of Gothenburg, SE-40530 Gothenburg, Sweden"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1826-391X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"M\u00e1rio J.","family":"Pereira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biology and CESAM, Campus Universit\u00e1rio de Santiago, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e02131","DOI":"10.1002\/eap.2131","article-title":"Understanding the drivers of mortality in African savannah elephants","volume":"30","author":"Schlossberg","year":"2020","journal-title":"Ecol. Appl."},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"Gobush, K.S., Edwards, C.T.T., Balfour, D., Wittemyer, G., Maisels, F., and Taylor, R.D. (2022, March 31). Loxodonta africana. (Amended Version of 2021 Assessment). 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