Analyzing the popularity of YouTube videos that violate mountain gorilla tourism regulations

Although ecotourism is expected to be compatible with conservation, it often imposes negative effects on wildlife. The ecotourism of endangered mountain gorillas has attracted many tourists and functioned as a key component of their conservation. There might be expectations on the part of tourists to observe or interact with gorillas in close proximity and such expectations may have been engendered by the contents of social media in this Information Age. However, the risk of disease transmission between humans and gorillas is a large concern and it is important to maintain a certain distance while observing gorillas to minimize risk. We conducted a content analysis and described the general characteristics of 282 YouTube videos related to mountain gorilla tourism. Humans and gorillas were observed simultaneously in 70% of the videos, and physical contact or close proximity within arm’s reach were identified in 40%. To explore the factors affecting the number of views and likes that these videos received, we ran generalized linear mixed models and performed AIC model selection with 206 videos in which humans and gorillas were observed simultaneously. Videos obtained more views and likes when the thumbnail photos included humans and gorillas together, while videos with thumbnail photos of only gorillas did not obtain more views and likes compared with those that included no gorillas. Moreover, videos obtained more views and likes in cases where physical contact or close proximity within arm’s reach with gorillas were clearly observed, compared with those that did not clearly include close human-gorilla interaction. These results suggest that human-gorilla interaction and proximity with gorillas attract more public attention than gorillas shown by themselves. Our study highlights the importance of further investigation on the direct link between such contents that violate tourism regulations and the conflicting situation.