Zoochat Challenge North America 2023

2023 and me! Time to take a DNA test and see if you’re 100% ZooChat Challenge ready.

Welcome to the 2023 ZooChat Challenge: North America! We’re coming off a big year, with a beast of a 2022 challenge and a record-setting 27 participants. Thank you all for your efforts (especially with scorekeeping, I know that was a lot)… I hope we get that kind of participation in the future as well

For 2023 I wanted to turn down the dial and return us to a simpler format – but still with a little bit of secret sauce, to keep things interesting. We’ll be doing a dual challenge, where you’ll get to pick your poison (not literally, we’re done with frogs) between two different challenges. People in 2022 seemed to like not being stuck with a single challenge that wasn’t great for them, so I wanted to continue that for at least another year. Also, having dual challenges means that there will be *two* winners, giving everyone double the chance of clinching the title.

The challenges? You all get to pick between Lizards or Primates.

(I know a lot of people wanted a bird challenge, but with avian flu still closing down zoo exhibits left and right in multiple regions I decided it wasn’t a good time. If the virus situation improves by next winter, 2024 *will* be a bird-heavy challenge; you all have my word on that.)

There’s some benefits and drawbacks to each. Lizards are going to be a larger tally for many people, and signage will be key as many species look similar. However – and I apologize, but I’m going to do a slightly shameless plug here – in 2023 I will be doing a guide to reptiles and amphibians of American zoos, with the lizard portion scheduled for April and May. This will help people get a sense of what species are out there and what they look like. As for primates, there are fewer species to get but the tallying and identification will be easier; also, @IndianRhino's thread (Gibbons, Geladas, and Guenons Galore! -- Primates in North America) will tell everyone exactly where they can go for what species, an advantage that the lizard people will not have.

I’ve already anticipated the top question: can you switch challenges. And the answer is yes, you can. However, I don’t want people jumping back and forth between the two based on whichever seems better for them that month, so here’s the rules:

#1: You can only switch challenges once; after you switch, that’s what you’re doing the rest of the year.

#2: If you switch after the first four months (so after April 30), you can only start counting from your two most recent zoo visits.

Basically, what this means is this: if you switch in the first four months, you can count all the eligible species you’ve seen so far in the year for the new challenge. If you switch after April 30, you can only count the two most recent zoo visits you did prior to informing me you’re switching. I think this hits a good balance between letting people feel out an option early with no consequences, while preventing people from switching late in the game when nobody knows how much progress they might have quietly made doing the other one.

Oh also, I’m introducing a new deadline system. I’ve been meaning to for the past two years, but I sort of neglected it/didn’t have a plan that satisfied me. This is what I’ve settled on for this year:

There is no official deadline to join; however, anyone who joins the game after the first four months (January to April) can only start counting from their two most recent zoo visits.

So in other words, the same rule and date as for people who switch challenges.

Before we get to the OG rules, a quick shoutout to @Shorts for providing us the genesis and template of these games. Also, if you liked the 2022 game I encourage you to participate in @ThylacineAlive's Global Challenge in 2023, which is a similar format.

The Rules

1. You have to actually see the animal, even if just for a second.

2. Photographic proof is not required; your word is your bond.

3. All entries must be in a numbered list and include the following: the species you’re counting (including the Latin name – especially for lizards, I'm gonna push you all on this one), the day you saw it and the zoo you saw it at.

4. You have to see the animal via normal public access during normal public opening hours. Behind-the-scenes sneak-peeks, VIP tours, exclusive events or any other kind of limited access will not count for this challenge.

5. Any severely limited opening or private collections don't count for this challenge. Facilities that do regularly scheduled public tours are acceptable.

6. Only public zoological collections count. Animals seen at farms, exotic animal expos, or pet stores of any kind do not count.

7. Report your progress on this thread as you go along; do not leave all your updates until the last minute. If you leave several months’ worth of updates until the last day, I can’t guarantee I will count them.

8. The taxonomy source we will be using is IUCN. Our unit is species, not subspecies. Counts at the genus level will not be allowed unless I make an exception.

9. Wild animals do not count, all species must be seen in captivity in North America under the conditions listed above.

10. Known hybrid animals do not count.

11. Anyone caught violating the rules or participating in unsportsmanlike conduct may be subject to disqualification from this year’s competition and/or from future North America competitions.

12. The winners will be whoever sees the most lizard species and whoever sees the most primate species between January 1 and December 31, 2023.

So how about it – King Kong or Godzilla? The choice is yours.

 

Note for people who do lizards: I know that some zoos don't sign lizards with scientific names or at all, particularly small private zoos. I’m still not sure exactly how much impact this will have for people, so for the most part we’ll start off dealing with this on a case-by-case basis. However, I’ve made some exceptions for species that I know are common in these types of zoos and for whom signage is often inadequate:

· For bearded dragons, you can count unsigned as Central (Pogona vitticeps)
· For blue-tongued skinks, you can count unsigned as Common (Tiliqua scincoides)
· For uromastyx/mastigures, you can count unsigned at the genus level (Uromastyx sp.) until/unless you see a confirmed species later, at which point you'll replace with that one

There’s a decent chance we’ll add to this list over time, but I don’t want to make things too complicated until we need to – so if any species comes up where you are unsure, ask. Take a photo too, in case myself or someone else can ID it visually for you.

 

Very excited for this year's challenge! hopefully I'm able to keep track of what I've seen this year (Which i failed to do last year), although that likely won't be a problem with this format. Probably will be going for primates for this one, which are definitely more readily visible in my area.

 

Very cool idea. I'll have to see where my zoo travels take me this year and decide what category would be best, although I have a suspicion I'll end up going with primates. Either way, this will be fun and much easier to keep track of than the global challenge.

 

Wow, 2023 is sure going to be a great year for ZooChat challenges! Looking forward to participating in these! I am working on updating my primate list so hopefully, I'll have that posted in the next couple months. I will also be attempting to indicate if a species is held offshow at a certain zoo in the updated list, which I hope will help with this challenge.

Anyways, good luck to everyone!

 

While lizards would give me an edge (my family is in Arizona, 90% of the captive animals here are lizards lol), I feel like I’d have trouble keeping track of all of them.
Besides, have you read my username? Have you seen my pfp? Primates all the way, baby! In the immortal words of uncanny mocapped Donkey Kong, “Bananaaaaa Slammaaaaa!”

 

As someone from a part of the country in which good reptile collections are few and far between, I'm definitely on team primate this year. It goes to show how few reptiles zoos I've been able to get to that my life list (started in 2020) for captive wildlife includes more primates than it does lizards! While I'm going to compete in the global challenge for fun, this is a challenge I'm likely to be much more competitive in, and am thrilled to participate in, especially as since last spring I've quickly been becoming much more interested in primates (although I still also love reptiles).

 

I'm going to be honest - as someone who is extremely indecisive and makes all of my zoo plans last minute, I do not like this. Can we just two different challenges that we count separately? The stress of not being able to decide which to go with will not make this fun for me.

 

If you don't like it there's no obligation to participate - either way both groups are certainly common enough and not likely to be heavily swayed by tendencies for last minute decisions I should think.
While I may not be the organizer for the challenge, both your original and current iteration of your post come across rather selfish in requesting the challenge be changed for no reason other than to directly suit your style and indecisiveness.

 

Sounds great. I’m probably team lizard, as primates are some of my least favorite species (except for gibbons & orangs).

I guess I also like the high number lizards will show, meanwhile primates may not be great. I may for fun track my primates but not for the purposes of this game.

 

Given how little travelling I have planned for this year, I'm probably gonna stick with lizards.

 

:cough:

 

There’s nothing stopping you from keeping score on both for the first four months, then choosing the one you’re doing better with/enjoying more.

 

I'm glad a couple people chimed in to say they're doing lizards! I know I said I'd sleep at night either way, but after four pro-primate responses I was getting a litte concerned

Besides the suggestion by @CGSwans (which sounds very reasonable), I can also just flip a coin and assign you one today if that makes things easier and I'm being honest, if that's easier for you it really makes no difference to me. Heads is primates, tails is lizards; call it and I'll flip it. But as for competing in both challenges simultaneously, that will be a no.

Short answer: this got scrapped. Sorry.

I ended up throwing out my original plan for this year, and in the process my plan for that small bonus thing. Then I tried incorporating it into this final draft, but it felt too convoluted and I wanted to simplify the plan. So I canned the whole idea.

Kudu is considered 2022's primary winner, the other three who finished will be listed as co-winners next to them. 2023 will be a completely blank slate. This is also likely to be how things work from now on.

 

Does this mean that it's okay if, say, I'm doing lizards that I privately document the primates during my visits in case I decide to make the switch so I remember what I saw during my last two visits?

 

I definitely second this opinion, however...

This seems like a good solution. If anyone is planning to visit the southern half of the US extensively, Lizards is a good option. Stuck in the more northern half of the US? Primates are likely a better bet. 4 months out you would probably have a rough plan of how the year will go, but still, competing in both challenges simultaneously seems like it would be much more enjoyable...
It is probably what I'll end up doing privately.

 

Man this is a tough decision, I’m in a spot where I have a lot of both lol. Also let’s hope I remember to enter everything in this year lol

 

Every year there's always feedback I can't anticipate until it's all up, unfortunately. The idea for this year was to have two different games that people chose for themselves based on personal interest, and to have two different winners that - by design - cannot be the same person. So while I am sympathetic to the different perspectives on this, this is what the format for 2023 will be. I hope people find enjoyment in playing nonetheless but as with every year it may just not be for everyone.

Yeah, sure. I can't really stop anyone from keeping a private list of anything and if you think you might switch it's a good idea to keep track of both.

Real-time evidence may prove me wrong, but from what research I've done (and on lizards at least, it's been a ton) it should be pretty even across regions for both groups. It's one of the reasons I picked the two.

That's what I had in mind; also I know many zoos in the north are seasonal and don't open until spring, so I wanted a chance for people to visit a couple of those too in case it changes their mind.