Remarkable animals: the Brazilians’ perception about the fauna on the Real bill

Abstract

Brazil is considered a megadiverse country, holding some of the most numerous groups of animal species in the world. Real bills honor this rich fauna since 1994. Around 190 million of Real bills run every day on Brazilians’ hands, but is this huge exposure enough to make the population recognize the animals portrayed? This article evaluates the Brazilians’ perception on the divulgation of the Brazilian fauna represented in Real bills. This analysis is based on activities held during the 10th National Week of Science and Technology, in October 2013, on the campus of the State University of Campinas (Unicamp) and at Taquaral Park, in Campinas (SP), São Paulo State. Participants were asked to indicate the species that appear on each one of the six Real bills; they were also asked to answer a questionnaire about the habits of the Brazilian animals portrayed. A total of 159 people took part in the activity: 86 participated individually and 73 in pairs or groups. Despite money being part of their everyday life, participants only barely remembered the animals on the bills, even after 16 images of animals were shown to them, six of which are actually found on the bills. The result indicates that science communication faces big challenges, as trivialized information such as the fauna on the Real bills, is not enough for the population to identify Brazil native animal species.