By Gabriele Colombo, Michele Mauri, and Alessandra Facchin

This Plain Language Summary is published in advance of the paper discussed. Please check back soon for a link to the full paper.

We wanted to understand how people perceive the animals living in Italian cities. Do they find them charming or annoying? Which species capture public attention and which are ignored? Since millions of people share their encounters with urban wildlife on social media, we turned to TikTok to find out.

We collected more than 2,600 videos showing more than 20 different animal species in Italian cities, from pigeons and seagulls to bees, spiders, and wild boars. We analysed how often each animal appeared, how much engagement the videos received, what words people used to describe them, and which emojis they chose.

Our findings revealed some surprises. While mammals generally attracted the most attention, it wasn’t always the “cute” animals that got people excited. Videos showing funny or unexpected moments performed better than those simply featuring beautiful species. For instance, one user’s ongoing relationship with a specific crow generated enormous engagement, while squirrels, typically considered adorable, received surprisingly little attention.

The most striking aspect was the overwhelmingly playful tone across the platform. Even animals usually considered problematic (such as nutria, boars, and pigeons) were described with humor and accompanied by cheerful emojis. TikTok users seemed more interested in being entertained than expressing strong positive or negative opinions about urban wildlife.

These patterns offer practical lessons for conservation communication. Organizations trying to promote biodiversity awareness could adopt TikTok’s playful style and tap into trending formats to reach wider audiences. Rather than relying on messaging about well-known charismatic species, conservation campaigns might be more effective by embracing humor, celebrating unexpected human-animal interactions, and making even the “unloved” species entertaining.