Science doesn’t typically include punchlines, meme-fame contagions, nor hawky-sized dragonflies. But when it comes to zoologist/writer/STEM content creator Lindsay Nikole, learning and entertainment are one entity, and it is a recipe that has enchanted over 5 million fans on TikTok, YouTube, and more.
The 27-year-old zoologist already has more than 500 million YouTube views under her belt across two years to demonstrate that you don’t need lab coats or lecture theaters to be awestruck with science. With her first book, Epic Earth: A Wild Ride Through the History of Life on Our Planet, set to hit bookshops across the country on November 11, 2025, Nikole is headed to bookstores, classrooms, and possibly your next dinner party conversation.
We spoke with Lindsay to learn about opening up STEM with accessibility, saving cheetahs and elephants, as well as Earth’s wildest creatures that used to crawl through Earth’s forests.
From Pandemic Boredom to STEM Superstar
It would never occur to you that Nikole was born to be a YouTube personality, but going viral was a pandemic moment of good luck.
“When I graduated, I was on track to work at a big cat sanctuary,” she remembers. “But when the world shut down in 2020, every animal care job basically disappeared overnight. I was stuck at home talking about animals constantly to the people I lived with, and they finally said, ‘You should make videos about this.’ So I downloaded TikTok and started posting what I’d learned in school, and people actually loved it!”
The others caught momentum. “I realized there was this huge audience of people who wanted to learn science but just needed it presented in a way that was fun and accessible,” she says. “I always fact-check, but I let my enthusiasm shine through. Science should always be fun.”
What I Learned Chasing Cheetahs And Elephants About Humanity
Nikole’s online career did not substitute for fieldwork. Her internships with Save the Elephants in Kenya and The Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia still shape her opinion.
“Working in the field always changes you,” she says. “At CCF, I remember seeing farmers and conservationists work together. It wasn’t about choosing between people and wildlife; it was about finding ways both could thrive. In Kenya, watching the toll of poaching and habitat loss was incredibly emotional, but what inspired me most were the innovations, like beehive fences to prevent elephants from raiding farms. Conservation isn’t just about saving animals; it’s about empathy, creativity, and community.”
Creepy Throwback Earth Monsters And 10-Foot Millipedes
If you ever wondered what Earth was like before the dinosaurs, spoiler, it was brutal. Nikole’s latest book does not disappoint.
“During the Carboniferous Period, Earth had way more oxygen than it does now, which meant insects grew enormous,” she says with a sparkle in her eye. “There were dragonfly relatives with three-foot wingspans, like the size of a hawk. And there was a millipede relative called Arthropleura that could reach ten feet long. Imagine that crawling across your backyard. The Carboniferous was basically a monster movie, but real.”
Part science, part wit, Epic Earth will make you laugh, shiver, and rethink your planet’s natural history under your feet.
Hardest Truth: People Are Killing The Planet
Even as she rises to career success, Nikole remains down-to-earth with one enduring truth: the planet requires us to be better.
“One of the biggest issues we face is a lack of respect for the natural world,” she says matter-of-factly. “When we don’t respect it, we destroy it, whether that’s through habitat loss, pollution, or overconsumption. A lot of those problems are driven by industries that prioritize profit over the planet, which can make individuals feel powerless. But change doesn’t start big, it starts small. Volunteer locally. Plant trees. Support sanctuaries. Or even just share what you learn about conservation with your friends. Knowledge spreads. At the end of the day, everything comes back to respect, recognizing we’re not separate from nature, but a part of it.”
Science Class But Make It Fun, Strange, And Viral
In an attention economy where time is short and patience is scarcer, Lindsay Nikole has learned to make people put down their devices and pick up knowledge, not with buzzwords, but enthusiasm. Whether she’s shattering cheetah myths, defending elephants, or showing off prehistoric horror bugs to people for the first time, she’s saying one thing: science belongs to everyone, and saving the planet is a responsibility we can share with pride. On November 11th, Epic Earth officially hits shelves to remind us that life’s history is as strange as it is majestic, and that our next chapter is contingent on how much respect we can give it.
