A naturalist in the tropics
Herpetologist Andrey Bragin has spent years in tropical Asia and shares stories about bats, rat snakes, elephants and a rare cave frog hiding in limestone karst.
What it is
The TikTok of Andrey Bragin, a Russian naturalist. In his videos he says he has been exploring tropical Asia for more than four years, working mostly with amphibians and reptiles. In an interview with the Russian outlet Media Gazeta he's described as a researcher of Vietnam's herpetofauna who specializes in skink taxonomy. The blog is called "В естественной среде" ("In the Natural Habitat"), the same name as his Telegram channel. He has about 14,000 followers on TikTok. Videos and captions are in Russian.
Why we picked it
This is field biology firsthand, no studio. The captions are little stories, sometimes longer than the clip. Take the bats: he explains that all the bats in one video belong to the suborder Yinpterochiroptera, and that where there's a yin there's a yang, Yangochiroptera, a name proposed by zoologist Karl Koopman in 1984. Or the red-tailed green rat snake in Vietnam, and why calling it a smooth snake is wrong. Or a sudden surge of elephant activity in the forest where he walks his survey routes. In early September he went looking for a very rare cave frog in the karst hills of western Thailand.
There are lighter stories too: reading local fish diversity from Asian market stalls, or old footage from Dagestan, where as a second-year student he organized his first expedition. He also leads naturalist trips in Vietnam, and they get a mention in captions, but the animals are the focus.
Where to start
- The bat video and the "yin" and "yang" suborders.
- The encounter with the red-tailed green rat snake.
- The hunt for a cave frog in Thailand.
- The elephants on his survey routes.
- Asian fish markets through a biologist's eyes.
Who it's for
Fans of snakes, frogs and other creatures most people step around, travelers heading to Southeast Asia who want to see more than beaches, and biology students curious what fieldwork really looks like. The footage works without Russian; the stories need it.
Quick answers
What language is it in? Russian, with Latin species names in the captions.
Is he a scientist? Yes, he's described as a researcher studying Vietnam's amphibians and reptiles.
Where can I read more? On his Telegram channel, "В естественной среде."
