Authors: Ulicsni, Viktor; Babai, Dániel;Szentirmai, István;Molnár, Zsolt;

Both professional conservation, and communities with traditional knowledge of landscape management protect animal species, although not with the same purpose and not the same species.
We investigated which animal species do the local traditional ecological knowledge holders and conservational rangers consider important to protect, which species are common and different between the two lists, and which are the key features when they include certain species in the list.
Our research was conducted in Slovenia and Hungary, in two neighbouring protected areas. In the two landscapes, we conducted 20+20 structured interviews with local knowledgeable traditional farmers and 20 with conservationists.
Conservationists mentioned the conservation of only slightly more taxa than farmers. The most frequently mentioned taxa differed significantly, but there was also a one-third overlap between the two lists. Birds were more while invertebrates were less represented in farmers' lists than in conservationists’. The rangers had previously thought that profit motive and conspicuous appearance were the main factors in conservation by locals, although species knowledge, morphology and emotional involvement were actually the main factors.
Different knowledge systems focus on the protection of different species. Communication between these knowledge systems and understanding each other’s motivations are essential for effective conservation.