A research group led by Ryoma Otsuka, a graduate student at the Graduate School of Asia and Africa, Kyoto University, and Professor Koto Yamakoshi, found that dangerous images of people and gorillas in close proximity attracted viewers' attention on video sites. ..We believe that the video on the video site may have a negative impact on the distance between people and gorillas and the conservation of gorillas.
According to Kyoto University, the research group used the search function of the video site "YouTube" to identify 282 gorilla ecotourism videos on the site.Of these, 206 of which showed people and gorillas at the same time were analyzed by statistical methods, and the videos in which people and gorillas made physical contact or were within reach were closer to each other within 7 meters. There was a tendency to get more "likes" than videos that did not show.
The research group analyzed that videos in which humans and gorillas are close to each other are attracting more viewers' attention.In addition, while this tendency may trigger viewers' interest in gorilla ecotourism, it has increased tourists' expectations of "getting closer to gorillas" and "getting closer to gorillas" and violating the rules. I think there is a risk of promoting it.
In today's information-oriented society, images on video sites can have a negative impact on the relationship between humans and wild animals, but on the contrary, the images can be used as a trigger for the desired distance between humans and wild animals. It is also possible to stimulate discussions on the rules to be followed.
For this reason, the research group will proceed with more detailed research to investigate how the images on the video site affect the behavior of tourists and the conservation of wildlife.
Paper information:[PLOS ONE] Analyzing the popularity of YouTube videos that violate mountain gorilla tourism regulations
