Hi all, Below I post (in Dutch) my script for a video that I would like to do. A simple video, explaining some of the things that come to my mind as I walk through a garden shop/centre as a biologist. Things people can consider if they want to make their garden a bit more nature-friendly. 🌿 I would appreciate the feedback! I have most of the recording from my own recent visit to the garden center and I will simply make it a voice over. Many people here are going to these shops again nowadays considering it's spring and people start to pick up gardening again.🌻 --- "Dit is waar ik als biologe op let als ik in het voorjaar door het tuincentrum loop! Ik kijk niet alleen naar wat mooi is - maar óók naar wie ervan kan leven. Veel insecten zijn bijvoorbeeld evolutionair aangepast aan inheemse plantensoorten. Dus als je die zaait thuis, maak je niet alleen je tuin of balkon mooier, maar help je ook de Nederlandse natuur en diens voedselketens een handje! Dan iets waar veel mensen niet bij stilstaan: licht in je tuin. Het lijkt gezellig – sterker nog, dat ís het ook: daarom heb ik zelf ook van die lampjes in mijn bomen hangen, voor romantisch diners! Maar: zelfs zacht licht kan insecten flink verstoren. Dus als je lampjes gebruikt, dan bij voorkeur zo warm en subtiel mogelijk – en als je gaat slapen, zet ze dan lekker uit. De natuur houdt van het pikkedonker! Soms trekt licht ook muggen aan... Heb jij daar erg veel last van? Dan zit de oplossing niet per se altijd in wat je op je huid smeert, of welke geurkaars je aansteekt. Maar óók gewoon in het ontwerp van je tuin, en in je gedrag. Muggen planten zich graag voort in stilstaand water, dus leeg kleine schaaltjes en emmers. En voor de zwoele zomeravonden, werken dunne kleren met lange mouwen en broekspijpen verrassend goed! In mijn werk, focus ik mij op zoogdieren en amfibieën, die juist graag insecten eten. Zooals vleermuizen, egels, kikkers en salamanders. Ik vind het als wetenschapper bijzonder mooi hoe alles met elkaar samenhangt. De planten, de dieren, het licht, de bodem, het water... Wat jij besluit te doen met jouw tuin, is heel belangrijk voor hoe het milieu en het mini-ecosysteem rondom jouw huis eruit ziet!"

Hola guys, Easter makes me feel like celebrating some of your wins: - @Abi Rowley’s first “do you know your bird species” format hit 10k views, with 16k across the other two combined. - @Sonya Yein's 2 educational formats also just crossed 10k views on both! - And @Manon de Visser apparently just landed a job interview at a major science communication magazine thanks her educational reels! That’s the first real world impact from what we're doing together here and I’m pretty bloody proud, if I may say so! 🙌🙌 CONGRATS, KEEP IT UP and I’m sure some exciting things will appear on the horizon for you soon...🌄 Looking forward to seeing you all in this evening’s call!

I finally managed to story tell under 40secs😭 Anyways for this one i had to make it on a whim because im back to classes again at uni, do drop you thoughts if there are any ways i could've been clearer or wtvr🦦🌸

Hi all, So since I spoke with Matthias I have been thinking more about which direction I want to go with my socials. I won't go into too much detail here, but overall I am thinking about trying to make more reels in which I constantly build the bridge between what separates, as well as unites, humans with other animals and nature. I once decided to study biology in the hopes of understanding life better - and by doing so also understanding humans better. But the more I find out about the natural world - the less I actually tend to understand humans. I think I kind of would like that intrinsic curiosity and bridge between humans and wildlife to be at the core of my future content. Does this make sense so far? Also I have decided to switch to a Dutch (and Flemish) audience for a while. Making videos in Dutch instead of English to see what happens. With this comes changing my name/handle, as well. It is now "@wild_DNA" - the name of my company. But I would like something Dutch that lures people in. (I am keeping my company name in the upcoming time though - for now this is purely about social handles). In short, I have gone through a whole list of ideas trying to make things personal and also keep the possibilities of what I can do with the name quite broad. After crossing off what I do not like, the following names remain. Which one do you think is best - and why? Or do you have a better one perhaps? - @evolueermetmanon (focus on building a community and on evolution/learning/growing) - @zoodenktmanon (focus on my thinking process and the term 'zoo' is smartly incorporated) - @manonverteltwaarom (more simple and straightforward, and it kind of rhymes funnily/flows well) - @drmanonlegtuit (same, more simple - I like mentioning my doctor title but the annoying thing is there already are some drmanons on insta, so I do not know how to best incorporate 'dr' or 'doctor' ) I am curious to hear your thoughts! Thanks! (:

Hi guys, I've been a bit less active for a while as you've noticed but I have two next rees/tiktoks lined up so no worries! 1) 💗 Finally: the Roseate spoonbill story - please let me know what you think and if I should do some minor tweaks before posting soon? This is the first time for me trying the format with greenscreen setup and having a script prepared beforehand! 🪝 Would this hook work, you think? Perhaps I can make a couple trial versions with slightly different hooks. But unfortunately the trial reels function has not really given me much insight (yet) so this specific next 'big' reel I might also just upload directly to my feed with the current hook. ---> (Fun bonus to share: all the automatic AI generators didn't know about "Roseate spoonbills". They translated it consistently to "Roasted spoonbills" 😝) 2) 🦎 Short meme/reel about the size giant salamanders can get. For funsies. All feedback welcome - but here I would mostly like to know what you think could be the best hook on the screen (this one here?). 📝 Also what is a good strategy for captions and hashtags etc.? I have copy-pasted a draft version of the caption I have now, below - this one quite elaborate and I want it to be truly educational (rather than a quick silly meme) --> so perhaps I should also really lure people to the caption somehow: --- " Meet the giants of the salamander world: 🧬 Chinese giant salamander: up to ~1.8 meters (!!) 🧬 Japanese giant salamander: up to ~1.5 meters 🧬 Hellbender – the “small” big one, but still: up to ~75 cm Yes. These are real amphibians. Same group as frogs, toads, and your average tiny salamander. But most salamanders you'll find are barely longer than your finger. ☝️ So naturally, the question is: why does size matter here? Why did these lineages go full GIANT MODE…while the rest stayed tiny and (let’s be honest) a lot less bombastic? 🤯 For us biologists, that’s where it gets interesting. Not just because we think “wow, big salamanders are cool” (they are, so trust me we do think this! 🦎) ...