Wildlife Conservation Office staff confirmed that the ministry had not consulted with them before distributing the erroneous teaching materials nationwide.

Education Minister Dapong Ratanasuwan on Wednesday admitted there were errors in information about wildlife included on the tablets, as previously pointed out by Chiang Mai University lecturer and conservation club head Rungsrit Kanjanavanit.

Dapong added that he had already instructed the Office of Basic Education Commission to heed the expert’s opinion and correct the information as soon as possible.

Along with Rungsrit, animal advocate Thon Thamrongnawasawat said on his Facebook page that an online search for information about wildlife often yields results that include other species – which seems to be the cause of the erroneous teaching materials.

He added that teaching materials used across the nation should be held to high standards and the ministry should make the corrections.

Sueb Nakhasathien Foundation secretary-general Panudet Kerdmali also urged the Education Ministry’s permanent secretary to speedily make the corrections rectifying the erroneous information, according to the foundation’s website http://www.seub.or.th.

Panudet said his agency found information of the tablets regarding protected species to be erroneous, such as a gaur (Bos gaurus) photo being used to portray the bovine kouprey (Bos sauveli), while other photos were too vague to clearly identify the species.

The foundation requested that the ministry check and correct erroneous information to ensure pupils are not misinformed, and also urged the ministry to document the origin and credit of each photo to make young people aware of the importance of intellectual property.

There are 15 species on Thailand’s list of protected wildlife animals including the white-eyed river martin (Pseudochelidon sirintarae), water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) and southern serow (Capricornis sumatraensis). Last week, the Cabinet approved in principle to list four marine species that are nearly extinct, including the whale shark (Rhincodon typus), the Bryde’s whale (Balaenoptera edeni), dwarf fin whale (Balaenoptera omurai) and leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea).

The listing would be the first additions to the protected list in 30 years.