<h5>What are the disadvantages of trying to study animals in the wild?</h5>  <p>Sanjeeta Sharma Pokharel is an elephant biologist. She is very interested in studying how emotions affect the behaviour of elephants, especially how elephants react to the death of a loved one. In three years of intense fieldwork, she only witnessed one case of the death of an elephant. </p>
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<p>Scientists need many cases to draw an accurate conclusion about how animals behave in certain situations. One case simply isn't enough.</p>
<p>Instead of wasting many more years trying to witness another lone case or two, Pokharel turned to an innovative source to gather data for her research - YouTube!
</p> <h5>Why are scientists turning to YouTube to study animal behaviour?</h5>  <p>She went to YouTube and typed words like, ‘death of elephants,’ and ‘elephant reactions to death,’ and was immediately flooded with results.</p>
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African elephants are easy to study because they live in the African savannah. Indian elephants live in dense forests that shield their activities. Even when they are just a hundred feet away from you, you wouldn’t be able to see what they are up to, much to the dismay of scientists.
So it’s YouTube to the rescue! Nowadays everyone has a phone or digital camera on them. And everyone loves clicking and uploading pictures on social media. An unexpected benefit of this is crowdsourced data that’s helping scientists see things they otherwise would never have got the opportunity to.</p>
<p>For example, rich tourists who can afford a trip to Antarctica capture rare and incredible videos of orcas that help scientists learn more about their behaviour. Scientists can rarely afford to go to Antarctica on their own.
</p> <h5>What did scientists learn about Asian elephants from YouTube videos?</h5>  <p>Sanjeeta Sharma Pokharel and her fellow scientist Nachiketa Sharma discovered that elephants are greatly affected by the loss of a loved one. They came across a female elephant carrying her dead baby on her tusks. The baby had been dead for weeks.
They saw groups of elephants trying to nudge and push a dead friend repeatedly to revive them. They saw elephants conduct their versions of a funeral, either by dragging a dead elephant’s body across the road or standing silently around a dead elephant to pay their respects.
All these cases led Pokharel and Sharma to conclude that elephants are far more intelligent and loving creatures than we previously thought.
</p> <h5>What are some other things scientists have learnt about animals from YouTube videos?</h5>  <p>Scientists have discovered that animals love to play. There are thousands of videos online about animals having fun. This reveals to scientists that animals aren’t just interested in sleeping, eating, and reproducing. They love having a good time, like you and me.</p>
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Scientists have researched crows sliding down a snowy roof using a jar lid, cockatoos that groove to upbeat music and spiders that love to dance, thanks to these videos online.
</p> <h5>How can I help scientists learn more about animal behaviour?</h5>  <p>Whip out that phone and go exploring. Whether you’re heading to a fancy wildlife sanctuary on your next family vacation or venturing into your backyard to observe the behaviour of crows and street dogs, make sure to record any animal behaviour you find interesting. But be sure to always maintain your distance and never hurt the animals!</p>
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Upload these videos on YouTube. Label and describe them properly, so that a scientist searching for that particular animal’s behaviour can find them easily. And voila! You have just contributed to progress in science.
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You and I watch animal videos on YouTube for fun. Scientists watch it to discover secrets of animal behaviour. Let’s see what they’ve learnt.

Scientists Learning From Animal YouTube Videos

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