About Nessie Explains

My name is Nessie O’Neil, although you might know me better as “Lochnessofficial” on Tiktok, and I started this website to help you learn something new.

My Animal Education Journey

Since I was a small child, I’ve had a habit of sharing my “fun facts” with whoever I could trap long enough to listen. As I grew older, I realized that if I wanted people to be as interested in the things I had to say, I had to find a way to make my “fun facts” actually fun. This realization is what led to my current interpretive approach to my work. My intense passions for both science and art have enabled me to tell an engaging story with everything I create, whether it be a 10 foot light up owl costume, or an educational presentation on proper raccoon husbandry.

Talking about animals comes naturally to me. I have always found it easier to communicate with animals than with people anyway, so talking to people about animals is the next closest thing. I am a firm believer that there are no stupid questions when it comes to animals. Silly? Sure. But not stupid. After all, how else is someone supposed to learn if they don’t ask? My goal as an educator is to ensure people feel comfortable coming to me with questions and know that I want them to be as excited about animals as I am. 

I began working as an animal educator at age 14, staffing smallstock barns at fairs and assisting with animal birthday parties for children. Now, I help run Exotic Pet Wonderland–a sanctuary for captive-bred wildlife in Knoxville. I work with and teach about animals such as raccoons, bobcats, and foxes, and educate through Tiktok, blog posts, and at in person events.

My areas of animal expertise are related to the care of small native carnivora in captivity, animal law, human social fear learning as it relates to animals, and the intersection of the tourism industry and wildlife conservation.

Nessie, why do you know all this random stuff?

In addition to my animal education work, I also educate on topics like mental health, advertising, academia, autism, environmentalism, fashion, alcohol and substance use, and more. The reason I know so much is that I have literally been in college since I was 16 (woohoo dual enrollment and early graduation). That is over 11 years of straight knowledge being pumped into my brain. In that time, I have earned an Associate’s degree in Zoology, two Bachelor’s degrees in Fashion Design and Tourism and Hospitality Management, and am currently working on my Master’s degree in Biology where I am researching the impact the tourism industry has on the critically endangered pygmy raccoon endemic to Cozumel. Additionally, I also spent several years in school for animal science and communication studies, although I never finished those degrees. So, with all that in mind, I have a lot of random knowledge I am excited to share with you all!

Why did you create Nessie Explains?

I created Nessie Explains because of my longstanding beef with AI generated blog articles and my belief that accurate information should be easily accessible. Since websites started using AI to generate blog articles for SEO purposes, I have experienced an influx of people responding to my cool facts with “ummm you’re wrong, Google says otherwise.” And then when I go to look, I realize that Google does, in fact, say otherwise. Brands are using AI to generate “informational” articles and, as a result, are publishing incorrect information that is making its way to the top of Google. More recently, Google has integrated new “AI” results which push even more misinformation. See below, where Google claims there are only 279 beluga whales left and they dine on polar bears. I’m over it, so now Nessie Explains exists to transpose my educational Tiktok videos into blog format in order to help curb the spread of misinformation on google about topics I am passionate about.

Are you the person who did Dashcon?

Yes. Nessie is short for Lochlan (my name is a pun teehee). I am the person who did Dashcon.