It isn't about zoos. I don't think it fits into any of the other ZooChat forums, but one or two people here may be interested. Zooniverse is a website linking to a range of Citizen Science projects: modern scientific methods can produce far more data than individual scientists or research teams can analyse - so they put the data on the web and invite anyone interested to loin in. The projects include SETI (of course), classifying galaxies, identifying plankton, analysing killer whale communication and recognition of the animals in camera trap images from the Serengeti (which ZooChatters should be good at). Interested? Look here https://www.zooniverse.org/projects Alan (who wishes he had time to have a go himself )
A new project on Zooniverse 'Project Plumage', studying bird plumage from specimens at the Natural History Museum, London. Zooniverse There are a good few wildlife and conservation-related projects on Zooniverse right now. Wish I had more time to devote there, their projects can be quite fun (especially the camera-trap ones!) Zooniverse
List of camera trap projects (so you don't have to search for them): Canid Camera Zooniverse Location: New York Canid Camera forum: Zooniverse eMammal Zooniverse Location: Virginia and North Carolina (currently, may expand in the future). eMammal forum: Zooniverse Numbat Discovery Zooniverse Location: Western Australia Numbat Discovery forum: Zooniverse Interior Least Tern and Piping Plover Predators Zooniverse Location: Nebraska Interior Least Tern and Piping Plover Predators forum: Zooniverse Snapshot Grumeti Zooniverse Location: Tanzania Snapshot Grumeti forum: Zooniverse Snapshot Mariri Zooniverse Location: Mozambique Snapshot Mariri forum: Zooniverse Snapshot Ruaha Zooniverse Location: Ruaha National Park, Tanzania Snapshot Ruaha forum: Zooniverse Identify New Zealand Animals Zooniverse Location: New Zealand Identify New Zealand Animals forum: Zooniverse Cheetahs of Central Nambia Zooniverse Location: Nambia Cheetahs of Central Nambia forum: Zooniverse Parasite Safari Zooniverse Location: Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Kenya Parasite Safari forum (I know, sounds fun): Zooniverse Elephant Expedition Zooniverse Location: Gabon Elephant Expedition forum: Zooniverse ZooChat thread: Studying African forest elephants from your sofa Michigan ZoomIN Zooniverse Location: Michigan Michigan ZoomIN forum: Zooniverse Western Montana Wildlife Zooniverse Location: Montana Western Montana Wildlife forum: Zooniverse Amazoncam Tambopata (organized by San Diego Zoo!) Zooniverse Location: Peru Amazoncam Tambopata forum: Zooniverse Focus on Wildlife -- Cleveland Metroparks Zooniverse Location: Cleveland, Ohio Focus on Wildlife -- Cleveland Metroparks forum: Zooniverse Camera CATalouge Zooniverse Location: South Africa, Southeast Asia Camera CATalouge forum: Zooniverse Chicago Wildlife Watch (organized by Lincoln Park Zoo!) Zooniverse Location: Chicago, Illinois Chicago Wildlife Watch forum: Zooniverse Snapshot Wisconsin Zooniverse Location: Wisconsin Snapshot Wisconsin forum: Zooniverse ZooChat thread: Snapshot Wisconsin Wildcam Gorongosa Wildcam Gorongosa Location: Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique Wildcam Gorongosa forum: Zooniverse ZooChat thread: https://www.zoochat.com/community/threads/wildcam-gorongosa.467893/ NOTE: This especially helpful because every once in a while a project dissapears from the Zooniverse website, despite it still existing. Because of this, a few are likley missing.
Zooniverse is my go-to website when I'm bored. For those interested in it, I suggest focusing on just a few of the animal ID projects, rather than dabbling in all of them; there are many species that appear extremely similar, especially when it's dark/you only have a hind leg/etc., and learning the small differences can be a pain. The "talk" pages are great for learning about the differences between species and getting help identifying things. For established projects, there are quite a few experts that chime in and help out. Here's all of the animal ones that I know of!! Ones not on your list, I've starred and included the link. Ones that you did mention, I included a description of what the project involves. (Note: there's two descriptors you'll see a few times: Currently out of data – The set of images has met the number of IDs needed (most projects require a dozen or so people to work each image). Some will be updated in the future – some are at 10+ separate sets of data – while others were one and done. You are still able to go through and work completed projects, though! Currently under review - Projects “under review” aren’t fully-fledged projects yet, meaning they don’t have quite all of the info needed, kinks worked out, etc. to make the front page. This also means images are marked “finished!” when they aren’t.) Amazoncam Tambopata – choose from 64 different IDs. Yeah, this one is really difficult! **Bat Detective - This one involves audio clips to identify bat calls. This is the only one of these I haven’t worked on at all, because I’m terrified of bats. Bat Detective Location: “World tour” format, with each set being from a different country around the world. The current country is Russia. Camera CATalouge – there’s 59 species IDs, plus human, vehicle, fire, and nothing there. There’s a lot of species but most are fairly easy to tell apart. This one has some really cool images of uncommon species! Canid Camera – pick from 29 IDs, then how many and if there’s bait present. Cheetahs of Central Namibia – pick from 52 species. The hoofstock on this one can be confusing, and it can get rather repetitive. Chicago Wildlife Watch – choose from 29 species, how many are present, and if there’s young. **Chimp & See – view 9 frames from a clip. If an animal is present, you then watch the short clip and identify species present. Most species are fairly vague, you don’t need too much knowledge for that part (ie large ungulate, small cat… though all the duikers are species-identified). You then choose from 19 possible activities the animal is doing, with a focus on chimp behaviors – tool usage, climbing, in a tree, etc. You also identify how many are present. Chimps Location: Across Africa **Colorado Corridors Project – the goal is to get data to support the building of a wildlife pass over the highway. This one is managed by the Denver Zoo. Choose between 25 species and “nothing here”, then how many you see. Zooniverse Location: Interstate 70 at Vail Pass, Colorado **Condor Watch – this one is set up much fancier than the others. Click on each animal. The click will place a circle that zooms in. Identify the species from 6 options (condor, golden eagle, coyote, turkey vulture, raven, something else). If it is a condor, questions are asked about the tag #, tag color, and how close it is to the carcass. Once you have marked each animal, if you are able to ID any of the condors, it will give you bio info on that condor. Really neat. Condor Watch Location: California Elephant Expedition – choose from just 8 animal IDs (antelope, large cat, other animal, etc.), cannot identify, human, or vegetation. eMammal – managed by the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and NC Museum of Natural Sciences. Identify from 42 species, then how many are present. Focus on Wildlife – Cleveland Metroparks – choose from 34 different IDs, including 5 different squirrel species. Then choose how many are present. **Grouse Grooves – identify if there’s males, females, or none (or both). Then pick how many, what behaviors you see, if the males are displaying, and if there’s male-male aggression. Zooniverse Location: Eastern Sierra, California Identify New Zealand Animals – select from just 13 species options (deer, cat, mustelid, etc), and then mark if you’re confident or unsure. Interior Least Tern and Piping Plover Predators – identify from 29 species, weather, unknown, and nothing there. The focus is on bird species, which make up 15 of the IDs. **Manatee Chat – this one involves short sound clips. Identify if there’s manatee calls, manatee chewing sounds, both, or neither. Zooniverse Location: Lowry Park Manatee Hospital Michigan ZoomIN – choose from 38 different IDs, then pick the weather conditions. Numbat Discovery – identify from 26 species or “nothing”. Being Australian species, I find this one super difficult. **Orangutan Nest Watch – while looking at drone photos, identify if there’s any orangutan nests and/or fig trees. I found this to be the hardest out of all the animal-related projects. Zooniverse Location: Sabah, Borneo Parasite Safari – identify from 50 species, then how many, how many are drinking, and how many are grazing. **Penguin Watch - If you want to try something easier than identifying species, this is the one for you. All you do is click on adults, chicks, the occasional egg, and the occasional other species (which you don't have to identify). Adults and chicks are super easy to tell apart and eggs are easy to notice, as well. https://www.penguinwatch.org/ Location: various spots in Antarctica **Pieris Project – currently under review. Butterflies! Wings are on a sheet of paper. Draw a line between the two Xs on the ruler, then identify the quality of the wings, draw a line measuring each forewing, put circles over the wing spot on each forewing, and identify if it’s male or female (females have two dots on each instead of one). https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/pierisproject/pieris-project Project Plumage – this one involves dead bird specimens. First, you mark the black and white circles; it helps “equalize out any variation in lighting/brightness”. Then you work through drawing shapes around the coverts, the wing primaries/secondaries, and the entire bird’s body. In the past, more parts were included, including the crown, nape, and tail. Seabirdwatch – put marks over all kittiwakes, guillemots, chicks, and “others”. The two birds are fairly easy to tell apart, the former being white with a gray wing and the latter being black with a white belly. https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/penguintom79/seabirdwatch Location: Faroe Islands, Greenland, Ireland, Iceland, Svalbard **Serengeti Wildebeest Count – currently out of data. Use a marker to identify all wildebeest in drone images taken from far above. I found this one very difficult. https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/dl-j/serengeti-wildebeest-count Location: Serengeti **Snapshots at Sea – currently out of data but will be updated. Identify if an animal is present (yes/no). This project works in stages. Once all images have been gone through for the presence of animals, it is then worked down to what species are visible, if there’s whales, and if there is a fluke visible. https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/tedcheese/snapshots-at-sea Location: User submitted images worldwide Snapshot Grumeti – 63 species options, plus how many are present, what behaviors you see, and if there’s any young. The focus is on wildebeest. Snapshot Marini - 3 species options, plus how many are present, what behaviors you see, and if there’s any young. The focus is on carnivores but there’s lots of primates. Lots of babies too J Snapshot Ruaha - 3 species options, plus how many are present, what behaviors you see, and if there’s any young. **Snapshot Serengeti – currently out of data, will be updated. This is THE big project on zooniverse, with over 700,000 classifications and 35,000 completed images. It spawned all of the other snapshot projects. Pick from 63 species, how many are present, what behaviors are taking place, and if there’s any young. The hoofstock can be a pain to tell apart. https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/zooniverse/snapshot-serengeti Location: Serengeti Snapshot Wisconsin – currently out of data but will be updated. Choose from 43 different species, then how many and if young are present. **Steller Watch – This project previously had users identify if sea lions were visible. They are now on phase two, identifying if there are letters/symbols visible on any animals or not (to track marked sea lions). This one is hard and requires a lot of zooming. I’ve personally never come across a marked seal. There’s some really neat photos, though! https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/sweenkl/steller-watch Location: Aleutian Islands, Alaska **Toledo Zoo Wild Shots – database hasn’t been updated in a year. Identify animals. IDs are fairly simple – squirrel, rabbit, bird, etc. rather than being super specific. “Unkown” is an option. https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/wildtoledo/toledo-zoo-wild-shots Location: Ohio **Understanding Animal Faces – currently out of data. This one is kind of strange/hard to do. If you can see an animal’s face, identify the points of the eyes, nose, and lips. https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/pszmhk/understanding-animal-faces **Utah Wildlife – currently under review. Mark if an animal is present, then choose from 20 species options, including “unidentified”, and how many. https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/red-butte-canyon/utah-wildlife Location: Utah **Weddell Seal Count – currently out of data but will be updating. Put points over adults, pups, and adult/pup combos. Separating the three can be difficult and requires lots of zooming in. https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/slg0808/weddell-seal-count Location: island in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica Western Montana Wildlife – choose from 29 options, with the focus on adult and immature bald eagles and golden eagles **Western Shield Camera Watch – currently out of data. Identify from 22 species, fire, or nothing. https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/birgus2/western-shield-camera-watch Location: Jarrah Forest, Western Australia **Whales as Individuals - This is one of the easier projects! This is an extension of Snapshots at Sea, and is the end goal of finally identifying flukes to track individual animals. You draw a box around any visible tails, and mark how light/dark the tail is on a 1-5 scale. Then you put points on the tail tips and the center of the V notch. https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/tedcheese/whales-as-individuals Location: user-submitted photos worldwide **WildCam Darién – currently out of data. Goal is to identify jaguars. Choose from one (or more) of 48 species options. Some are very similar looking. https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/wildcam/wildcam-darien Location: Panama Wildcam Gorongosa – 53 ID options. **Wildebeest Watch – currently under review. All images are taken from Snapshot Serengeti. Right now, the project only involves identifying if you can see the sun/where it is. The ultimate goal will be figuring out what direction animals are moving in by using shadows. https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/aliburchard/wildebeest-watch Location: Serengeti **Wild Wolf Watch – currently out of data. Under review. The project goal is to get an idea of the size of the red wolf population in NC, which is thought to number 20-40 individuals. This one can be a pain because several species, especially bears, like to get REALLY close to the camera. https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/mlsmax/wild-wolf-watch Location: eastern North Carolina
Because of course this happens the day after my post Several projects have a bunch of new images! I got e-mails about Chicago Wildlife Watch, Elephant Expedition (final set of images), Western Montana Wildlife, and Wildwatch Kenya.
A new project was added today! I've gone through several dozen images already and only one didn't have an animal in it (though there were bubbles). Beluga Bits - Goal is to hopefully identify belugas that return each year by identifying age, sex, and markings. Photos are all screenshots viewers take from a live cam. Location: mouth of the Churchill River, Manitoba Zooniverse Here's an image I just did of the inside of a mouth
Some new animal projects have been added in the last year! A few of these are easy enough that a young kid could probably do them. Ano Nuevo Island – Animal Count: Pick from two workflows, seals & sea lions or birds. In the first, you click on the head of each seal and/or sea lion you see. In the birds workflow, which is much more difficult, you click on the head of each Brandt’s Cormorant, Brown Pelican, and gull (various species, same marker). Images are from Ano Nuevo Island, near Santa Cruz, California. Zooniverse Astro-Ecology: A project that uses thermal sensing drones, done by Liverpool John Moores University. Right now, the images are all from Chester Zoo and Knowsley Safari! Click on all of the rhinos, antelopes, and humans you see, along with “animal (not sure of type)” and “not sure if an animal”. In the future they will have images of monkeys, primates, and elephants in the wild. The goal is to identify species as well as humans who may be poachers. Zooniverse Battling Birds: Here you’ll be watching short video clips from Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Sapsucker Woods FeederWatch Cam. Select if you see any birds, then pick from 17 species (plus squirrel). Pick the largest # of each species you saw at one time in the clip, then if there were any displacements. If there were, identify the time it starts, which species started it, which species was the target, and what the outcome was. Lastly, say if it was raining. An easy project with few species that can be mixed up. Zooniverse Cedar Creek- Eyes on the Wild: Scientists have been studying this reserve in Minnesota since the 1940s, but didn’t focus much on the animals. This is a typical project: watch a 3-image clip, then pick from 28 species/types, human/vehicle, or nothing there. For each species, elect how many, if there’s young, and choose from 5 behaviors. If there’s deer, also select if there’s antlers. The species you’ll see most often (by far) is the white-tail deer. The majority of images are of grass waving in the wind. Of the species-identifying projects, this one is very easy, even if you aren’t American. Zooniverse London Bird Records: Transcribe note cards written by bird watchers throughout London. Zooniverse Measuring Giraffes: This one is super easy. Click on the top of the head (between ears and ossicones), the top of one ossicone (horn), the spot where the neck meets the chest, and the bottom of a front hoof if visible. You only do one giraffe per image, and sometimes they’re babies. That’s it! Images are Masai Giraffe from Tanzania. Zooniverse Monkey Health Explorer: Identify white blood cells in microscope images. This project is currently done with its first set of images and I haven’t tried it, but thought some might like it. Zooniverse Nestcams: Pick from 2 species, Greylag Geese or Northern Bald Ibises. Watch short video clips. For geese, say whether the female is sitting on the nest, standing, or a combination, then choose from 9 behaviors (egg rolling, parenting, leaving nest, etc). For ibises, say how many parents are on the nest, then select from the same options the geese have. Zooniverse Nest Quest Go- Chickadee-dee: There’s several different workflows for this project, each involving transcribing cards filled out by scientists. Zooniverse Nest Quest Go- Western Bluebirds: There’s several different workflows for this project, each involving transcribing cards filled out by scientists. Zooniverse Notes From Nature – Butterflies: This involves several institutions. Transcribe the information with images of specimens. Zooniverse Notes From Nature – Calbug: Transcribe information with butterfly specimens. Less info needed than the other Notes From Nature, and the information is usually much easier to read. Zooniverse Pelicams: Images are of White Pelicans from Gunnison Island, Great Salt Lake, Utah. Identify if you see any of 9 bird species (all fairly easy to tell apart), coyotes, humans, rodents, or other/nothing. If pelicans, select how many, then choose from 5 behaviors, if you see any young ones, and if you see a horn on a beak. Then put dots on any coyotes/predators, pelicans with wing tags, pelican eggs, baby pelicans, and juvenile pelicans. Zooniverse Plankton Portal: Pick from two locations, California Current or Gulf of Mexico. They’re otherwise the same. Identify each plankter, using 5 different shapes. There’s rarely more than a couple per image. Zooniverse Rodent Little Brother- Secret Lives of Mice: This one involves watching five-second b&w clips of mice in labs. Pick from one of 3 mice to follow (red, blue, or green); you will always be looking for that color mouse. Say if you can identify the mouse (there is a digitally-added color dot on the mouse at all times), if it is awake, and then what activity it’s doing (climbing, eating, drinking, grooming, not sure, none of the above). Some of the questions have one follow up question, like if it’s grooming itself, or one of the other colored mice. Rather easy. Images are from Actual Analytics in Edinburgh. Zooniverse Skink Spotter NZ: Identify Otago Skinks in short time-lapse clips (10 minutes broken down into 10 images, 1 per minute). Click if you see a skink or not, then pick from a few other additional options: If there’s 2+ skinks in one image, if you’re sure there’s a McCann’s Skink (rare), if it’s raining, if there’s snow, and if you see a Korero Gecko (rarely visible and only from 1 camera). Easy once you get used to it. Zooniverse Snapshot Camdeboo: This project includes images from Camdeboo National Park in South Africa. There’s 50 species/type options, along with fire and no animals present. I did 25 images and every single one had a different species, including aardvark, blesbok, black-backed jackal, caracal, and bat-eared fox! Zooniverse Snapshot Debshan: Debshan Ranch is in central Zimbabwe. There’s 54 options, plus fire and nothing there. There’s only one frame per image. Zooniverse Snapshot De Hoop: De Hoop Nature Reserve is another location in South Africa. 48 options, plus fire and no animals. My very first image on this one was an Egyptian mongoose J You can also do a workflow where you simply say if there’s an animal or not. Lots of bontebok, one of my favorites! Zooniverse Snapshot Elephants For Africa: The eventual focus of this project is bull elephants in Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, where 85% of elephants seen are transient males; right now it’s on the beginning stage of identifying species in photos. Choose from 55 species/types, how many, what behaviors you see, and if there’s young present. Zooniverse Snapshot Hoge Veluwe: A different location for the snapshot projects! Hoge Veluwe is in the Netherlands. There’s 21 species options, plus human activity, unknown, and empty. These images usually have 20 frames, instead of the usual 3. Zooniverse Snapshot Karoo: Images come from Karoo National Park in South Africa. Choose from 59 species/types, fire, or no animals present. Lots of baboons. Zooniverse Snapshot Madikwe: Madikwe is the 5th largest game reserve in South Africa and home to all of the Big 5, plus cheetahs and wild dogs. This one can be a bit overwhelming as there’s 82 species options, plus fire and nothing there. Zooniverse Snapshot Molopo: Molopo Nature Reserve is along the border of South Africa and Botswana. 46 species options, plus fire and nothing there. You can also do a workflow for selecting if there’s an animal present or not. Zooniverse Snapshot Mountain Zebra: Mountain Zebra National Park is in South Africa, and was created to protect the Cape mountain zebra. Another heavy project, there’s 69 animals plus fire and nothing there. But, my second image was a young male lion stalking! Zooniverse South Sudan Diversitycam: South Sudan is a nation where many fauna from west Africa and east Africa meet. This project is hard! Pick from 75 animals, most of them very specific – 9 of those are mongooses, 3 pangolins, 7 duikers… non-mammals are marked as “birds”, “tortoise”, “reptile/amphib.” For each species, select how many, which of 3 behaviors, and if there’s young. This project really needs help. Most images I’ve done had no animals, and the species I’ve seen the most is the bushbuck. Zooniverse Squirrelmapper: Pick how many squirrels are in the image (0, 1, 2 or more), what color the squirrel is (gray, black, other, unclear), and if it’s black, what color the belly is (black, orange/brown, unclear). Very easy. Images are from iNaturalist. Zooniverse Taranaki Mounga: Images are from Taranaki Mounga (mountain), New Zealand. The focus is on invasives vs local species. Pick from rat, possum, stoat/ferret/weasel, feral cat, goat, songbirds, brown kiwi, kereru, other, no animals, and can’t tell, then how many of each you see. Appears to be done for now. Zooniverse Wild Gabon: A standard style project with only 24 species to choose from, mostly duikers or primates. Yellow-backed duikers are the most common. Learn your duikers! Images are usually clear enough to identify the species (versus some other projects where you frequently just get a leg or ear). Zooniverse Wildwatch Burrowing Owl: Done by San Diego Zoo Global, with images from Otay Mesa, California. Each image comes from a motion-activated camera that shoots 3 quick images (like most of the snapshot, etc projects). Select from Burrowing Owls and 16 other animals, primarily predators (generics are used, like “snake”, “rodent”, “raptor”, etc). If you see burrowing owls, select how many adult there are, how many young birds, if they’re mating/feeding/committing infanticide, if any birds are banded, if there’s evidence of predation/death, and if there’s prey being delivered. For other species, select how many, if there’s prey deliveries present, and if there’s evidence of predation/mortality events. Zooniverse