Large carnivores are controversial species, and associated conflicts between stakeholders with opposing views on large carnivores are observed across the globe. Social trust, the public’s willingness to rely on those responsible for developing policies, has gained much attention regarding the acceptance of large carnivores and large carnivore management. However, trust in large carnivore science has not received as much consideration. In Norway, administrative management authorities are responsible to execute the political framework decided by the Norwegian Parliament while basing their decisions on recommendations from large carnivore science. As large carnivore science is the main knowledge provider for monitoring and measures implemented in management decisions to achieve viable carnivore populations, trust in science is crucial. Yet, scientific information is often challenged. As attitude studies show a tendency for the wider general public to be more positive towards large carnivores than people most adversely affected, we wanted to examine whether the trust in large carnivore science follows the same pattern. We used a geographically stratified sample of 2110 respondents, five respondents from each municipality in Norway, to model how trust varies across the sample. Our results indicate that elderly men, people with lower education, those who have experienced loss of livestock to carnivores associate with lower trust in large carnivore science. Lower trust was also found among big game hunters and people who fear large carnivores. This knowledge could help to guide targeted science communication and contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of cognitions important for management of conflicts involving large carnivores.

大型食肉动物是有争议的物种，在全球范围内观察到对大型食肉动物持不同观点的利益相关者之间的相关冲突。社会信任，即公众愿意依赖政策制定者的意愿，在大型食肉动物的接受度和大型食肉动物管理方面备受关注。然而，对大型食肉动物科学的信任并没有得到太多考虑。在挪威，行政管理当局负责执行挪威议会决定的政治框架，同时根据大型食肉动物科学的建议做出决定。由于大型食肉动物科学是在管理决策中实施监测和措施以实现可行的食肉动物种群的主要知识提供者，因此对科学的信任至关重要。然而，科学信息经常受到挑战。由于态度研究表明，与受到最不利影响的人相比，更广泛的公众倾向于对大型食肉动物更积极，我们想检查对大型食肉动物科学的信任是否遵循相同的模式。我们使用了一个由 2110 名受访者组成的地理分层样本，其中有来自挪威每个城市的 5 名受访者，以模拟信任度如何在样本中变化。我们的研究结果表明，老年男性、受教育程度较低的人、经历过因食肉动物而失去牲畜的人对大型食肉动物科学的信任度较低。在大型猎物猎人和害怕大型食肉动物的人中也发现了较低的信任度。