Exploring the Needs and Ways to Use Virtual Reality to Understand Animals' Perceptions: A Field Study in a Science Workshop and Exhibition

Knowledge of how animals perceive the world can provide a method of understanding them. Recently, it has become easier to experience augmented vision, particularly using head-mounted display virtual reality (HMD-VR). Research on the use of HMD-VRs for applications in education has been increasing. However, it is impossible to express other animals' vision to humans with complete accuracy. To explore the needs and the appropriate methods of utilizing HMD-VR for learning animal vision, we created VR videos of eyesight, color vision, and dynamic vision filmed in a real environment and conducted a field study with the videos in a workshop at a zoo and an exhibition in a science festival. A questionnaire answered by 39 participants at the workshop and 196 attendees at the exhibition revealed that the animals and information sought by participants differed by participant demographics.