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YouTubers love wildlife, but commenters aren’t calling for conservation action
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Analyzing the comments on YouTube videos about wildlife, research led by the University of Michigan showed the comments most commonly expressed appreciation for animals—except in the case of hunting videos. In those, appreciation for animals was second to appreciation for humans. Calls to action were consistently low across all video categories, even the one that included videos focused on conservation. Image credit: D. Van Berkel at al. Commun. Sustain. 2025 DOI: 10.1038/s44458-025-00018-2
YouTube is a great place to find all sorts of wildlife content. It is not, however, a good place to find viewers encouraging each other to preserve that wildlife, according to new research led by the University of Michigan.
Out of nearly 25,000 comments posted to more than 1,750 wildlife YouTube videos, just 2% featured a call to action that would help conservation efforts, according to a new study published in the journal Communications Sustainability.
“Our results basically show that people like to watch videos of zoos and safaris and that they appreciate the aesthetics and majesty of certain animals,” said author Derek Van Berkel, associate professor at the U-M School for Environment and Sustainability, or SEAS. “But there really wasn’t much of a nuanced conversation about conservation.”
Although he didn’t expect to see most commenters urging other YouTube users to call their elected officials or to support conservation groups, “I was hoping there might be more,” Van Berkel said. “I thought it might be bigger than 2%.”
Despite the low number, however, the team believes the report still has an optimistic take-home message.
“The flip side of this is we can and should do better at messaging, and there’s a huge potential to do so,” said study co-author Neil Carter, associate professor at SEAS.
While individual YouTube viewers weren’t organically calling for conservation action, there was also a notable absence of conservation groups and influencers working to start conversations and sharing actionable information in the comments.
“There’s tremendous untapped potential for conservation messaging to be improved,” Carter said.Study: YouTube content on wildlife engages audiences but rarely drives meaningful conservation action (DOI: 10.1038/s44458-025-00018-2)