杏吧原创

Eight-year-old kids can identify Pok茅mon 鈥渟pecies鈥� from the card-trading game more easily than they can name their local wildlife. Zoologist Andrew Balmford and his colleagues at Cambridge University showed more than 100 children pictures of Pok茅mon characters and common British species, such as badgers and oak trees. Children aged 8 could name 80 per cent of Pok茅mon characters, but they could identify only half the plants and animals (Science, vol 295, p 2367). Unless kids get more clued up about nature, says team member Tim Coulson, they won鈥檛 be enthusiastic about conservation as adults. 鈥淢aybe an animal version of Pok茅mon could help,鈥� he says.