Who is your favourite nature host, in a video format?

Nature Talk
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1

I searched, but I couldn’t find a forum topic specifically about video hosts.

Your answer should be a person that you watched on a screen: a TV show, YouTube, TikTok; any kind of video. It could include nature writers, but they must have had some kind of video show as well. The answers will be mostly wildlife hosts, but there have been a few shows about plants and fungi . . .

Previous answers in related threads have included:

  • David Attenborough
  • Gerald Durrell
  • Steve Irwin, AKA “The Crocodile Hunter”
  • Marlin Perkins

And there are more modern video creators, such as:

  • Nathaniel “Coyote” Peterson
  • Mike Holston, AKA “The Real Tarzan”

I’m especially interested in newer content creators, on newer platforms, that old guys like me might not be aware of! (I’m 49)

2

The ‘Energizer’ nature show host, Sir David Attenborough. May 8, he is 100 years old, and still going, and going…

I doubt if any other host will ever come close to sheer length of career, let alone his quality of hosting.

3

I really enjoy All.About.Nature on Youtube! He does great videos about many things nature but I especially love his New species of (insert year) videos and his videos about rediscovered species.

Also Casual Geographic on Youtube. He is very funny while telling you about various critters.

4

i like joey santore, crime pays but botany doesn’t
and adrian smith of ant lab

5

Ze Frank! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7HkBBJO7ZU

Also, despite being a European entomologist, I think Joey Santore is just awesome!

6

He also made at least one video correcting mistakes he made during other videos. While it’s better not to make mistakes in the first place, I like that he took the effort to make the corrections. That’s more than most YouTubers would do.

7

I didnt know that!! Makes me like him more aha

8

I think we should appreciate the whole team that creates the videos, not just the hosts.

I would forever recommend Deep Look who make very professional and informative videos about small creatures. I often wonder how they managed to film all those interactions at such a small scale. And the narrator’s voice is very pleasing.

9

Thanks for the tip, Dimitǎr!

I just watched the latest Deep Look video about terrestrial isopods giving birth (AKA pillbugs or woodlice). I had no idea they keep their babies in pouches like tiny kangaroos! The video is really well done!

I also watched a Deep Look video about another isopod: the “Sand Piranha” Excirolana chiltoni.

@isopod-fan and @isopodguy, you might enjoy these videos!

10

Two of my favorites are these.

I go to these channels, click on the Videos link, then sort by “Oldest First” to watch then in order.

PBS Eons with various hosts.

https://www.youtube.com/@eons

“In Defense of Plants” by Matt Candeias. Matt has a book by the same name.

https://www.youtube.com/indefenseofplants

11

Crime pays but Botany doesn’t is great

I also really like https://www.instagram.com/palaeoamber/

https://www.youtube.com/@skeletoncrew8122

https://www.youtube.com/@SHARKBYTES

https://www.youtube.com/@AVNJ

https://www.instagram.com/astrid_lundberg/

https://www.instagram.com/notoriousnaturalistmax/

https://www.instagram.com/geosplore/

and if I may be so bold I like the things I’ve been posting myself

https://www.instagram.com/heybiologisthere/

12

A few that havent been mentioned yet that I’ve really enjoyed: Alexis Nikole Nelson (aka The Black Forager), Sage the Bad Naturalist, Calista (More relaxed than deep-dive educational, but she does tidepooling videos in gorgeous places along the California coast), and Smash Fishing (tidepooling and fishing videos in the Orkneys).

13

Some overlap with previous, but some youtube subs which are animal specific (As oppposed to the several mixed science channels I also sub).

https://www.youtube.com/@zefrank

https://www.youtube.com/@TierZoo

https://www.youtube.com/@EntoExplorer (Only 14k subs, I found it when doing one of my “where are my inat images getting credited hunts” and got this vid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLAPFAysr7I ). They use a lot of inat ccby images, and dive into various ento groups.

https://www.youtube.com/@BizarreBeasts

14

yall should definitely check out general apathy on yt

https://www.youtube.com/@GeneralApathy

my favorite nature host!
He goes into habitats, has really good ID skills on field, is gentle and knows his stuff and shows you cool as hell organisms (critters/mammals/reptiles, depends)
10/10 would recommend

15

Steve Backshall - Deady60 TV series

16

Lindsey Nikole on YouTube has some really great videos about animals and archaeology, her videos I find to be both informative and funny!
Here’s a link to her page: https://m.youtube.com/@LindsayNikole/videos

17

all.about.nature is my favorite, been a big fan for a few years.

18

I checked it out. Great channel!

A very cool, action-hero type that I forgot about. Thanks for the reminder!

19

Apart from others already mentioned here (Ze Frank’s river mussel video is perhaps my definitely-not-biased favourite)…

If you are ever interested in evolution and the history of nature as we know it, The aforementioned PBS eons has really nice videos on this topic, but I’ve also found Stefan Milo and Moth Light Media are fantastic too. Moth Light Media is broadly focused, with stories explaining the evolution of many different taxa, both extant and extinct ones. Stefan Milo focuses mostly on ancient human/great ape history/archaeology, but also exploring other stuff from time to time. If you’ve never explored this topic I highly suggest it, I find it really fascinating. His latest video is about Gigantopithecus (imagine an orangutan; but double the size of a gorilla!)