The biodiversity hidden behind the moose

The Great Moose Migration is a live, un-narrated nature programme that shows animals and landscapes at a location in Ångermanland where moose cross the river at a shallow ford. Minh-Xuan Truong, a researcher at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), has previously studied how audiences experience the programme. Now, together with his colleague Jesse D. Peterson at University College Cork, he has analysed the highlights.

In these highlights, the editorial team selects the most exciting moments from the broadcast and provides short descriptions to guide viewers. The live stream presents a slow and more realistic depiction of nature, whereas the highlights consist of fast-paced, annotated scenes.

“It is a completely different experience. If the live stream is like a window onto nature, the highlights can be compared to Instagram reels, where viewers are served the most dramatic and visually striking moments,” says Minh-Xuan Truong.

In total, he reviewed 1,063 highlights from the 2023 and 2024 seasons to identify which animals appear and how often. Unsurprisingly, moose were the most common species. Several other mammals also featured prominently, including reindeer, red fox, brown bear, wolverine and roe deer. The next most common group was large birds such as white-tailed eagle, common goldeneye, Canada goose and whooper swan. Altogether, Truong identified 36 animal species.

“It is quite a good species list and gives viewers a solid insight into the animals present in the area. At the same time, there is always a risk that focusing on charismatic species makes others invisible.”

In Artportalen, Sweden’s national system for reporting and searching species observations, a total of 257 species are recorded in the area. The global platform iNaturalist contained 88 species. The differences are not only due to selection, but also because small and hard-to-detect species are simply not captured by the cameras. Artportalen and iNaturalist also include observations from other habitats, while the cameras focus on riverbanks.

At the same time, the highlights do capture some species not recorded elsewhere. The overlap with iNaturalist was 21 species – meaning that 15 species from the highlights had not been reported there.

“This shows that The Great Moose Migration could complement biodiversity databases. Overall, the many hours of recorded nature represent a resource that is not yet fully utilised for ecological research,” says Truong.

Jesse D. Peterson examined how the highlights are framed. The accompanying text helps viewers understand what they are seeing. The descriptions focus on animals and their behaviour, sometimes using emotionally charged or anthropomorphic language, for example describing animals as lonely or frightened.

The study shows that The Great Moose Migration can both strengthen people’s relationship with biodiversity and risk creating a selective, spectacular and romanticised image of nature. The highlights do not only shape what we see, but also what we perceive as important in nature.

Truong believes this can be addressed.

“Of course, the editors should continue to highlight moose and other charismatic species in the highlights, but they could also give more attention to less visible species, when possible. The identification of additional species could be achieved through viewer participation or by employing artificial intelligence tools.” 

The research was founded by Formas and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency.

Scientific article

Beyond moose: Curating boreal biodiversity through Swedish slow TV and digital highlights