The cost of casting animals as heroes and villains in conservation science

New research shows how these storytelling choices can distort science – and how to move beyond them.

By: Adam Meyer, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Kristy Ferraro, University of Michigan, The Conversation

Outlets: The Conversation

Published: February 25, 2026

Words: 1,129

Last Updated: 2 weeks ago

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By Adam Meyer, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Kristy Ferraro, University of Michigan

Scientists are philosophers, explorers, data collectors and number crunchers. They are also storytellers, placing data within a broader scientific and societal context. How they tell these stories matters.

In our work as ecologists, we find that the “hero-villain” narrative trope is a popular tool in ecology and conservation writing. For example, wild pigs – a hybrid of human-introduced wild boars and …

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