For the next 10 days we'll been showcasing some of Chimp&See's spookiest videos on facebook and twitter filled with things that go bump in the night (and sometimes during the day too)! Check back here daily to see what makes our top 10 list!
10) Chimp&See's Spooky Rompo
We started the countdown with this video from Crimson Dew that sets the tone perfectly and was found by modertaor jwidness. Its just an illusion created by a foggy and wet camera lens (or is it?!? muahhahahahahahah!) or perhaps the legendary Rompo?
original video can be found here: http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP00052tm1
9) Spiders
We've got some great spider videos on Chimp&See, sometimes they can even be a bit distracting! Citzien scientist Boleyn commented that "because of the #spider I almost missed the #genet" on this video from Muddy frost: http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP0003qe1
Also, we suspect that these floaty orbs found by StarwatcherHB and Zanna640 are actually out of focus spiders near the camera lens at Dry Lake but secretly we hope they are benevolent forest spirits like the Kodama or Yumboes. http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP0006w71
Here are a few more spider videos to make your skin crawl:
8) Elephantom
Citizen scientist moderator ksigler noted that these elephants seems to appear out of nowhere at Cool Silence. It's amazing how in all of our videos these massive beasts seem to be so unobtrusive in the forest, ghost-like one might say.
http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP0002p15
7) Attack of the not so killer bees
Citizen scientist Eswiniarski is pretty sure that this guinea baboon was stung by a bee in this video from Dry Lake. Luckily he seems to have made a quick recovery.
originals here: http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP000726c and http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP000726d
6) Ghost & Pirate Chimps
Night mode on our camera traps sometimes makes the chimps look extra ghostly on the videos. Citizen scientist MargC found that our ginger chimp from Dry Lake named Roux looks especially pale in black and white (http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP0006ovo and you can see more videos of Roux here: http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/collections/CCPL0000fm)
While matching chimps, we rely on special features that distinguish each chimp from one another.The night videos are often tricky for this purpose since many of the features get washed out in low light. Citizen scientists Eswiniarski and AnLand noticed however that this male chimp from Lingering Shape has a special feature that is probably only seen at night: a right eye that does not reflect any light.
(original videos: http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP0005mzg and http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP0005mz8)
5) Fires of Samhain
Before Halloween was Halloween, it was Samhain. And a big part of Samhain is fire. "It is suggested that the fires were a kind of imitative or sympathetic magic – they mimicked the Sun, helping the "powers of growth" and holding back the decay and darkness of winter. They may also have served to symbolically "burn up and destroy all harmful influences".Accounts from the 18th and 19th centuries suggest that the fires (as well as their smoke and ashes) were deemed to have protective and cleansing powers".
We have a lot of fires at our current site Dry Lake and they burn during the day and night. Some are natural due to the dryness of the site and some are set by people for agricultural purposes.
How do chimpanzees react to fire you ask? Check out this paper by Pruetz and LaDuke "Reaction to fire by savanna chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) at Fongoli, Senegal: Conceptualization of "fire behavior" and the case for a chimpanzee model."
Thanks to citizen scientists starwatcherHB, Morra and clt21duke for highlighting these great clips (http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP0006r5w , http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP00075a6 , http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP0006ob4)
4) The forests have eyes (and they are adorable, I mean spooky)
Thanks to citizen scientists jwidness and snorticus for finding these great clips from Red Water and Dry Lake! (http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP0003a1x , http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP0007ape)
3) Halloween photobomb
Ever get that feeling that there is sssssssssssome body behind you? Citizen Scientist rlb66xyz 6 noticed that this Cool Silence duiker is being seriously photobombed by a snake slithering towards it in the lower right part of the video right above the duiker's head. Sssssssssssssneaky!
(original video: http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP0002nqg)
2) Going batty
You wouldn't guess that we'd get a lot of bats on our camera traps - but we do! In this clip from Quiet Wood citizen scientist markehurd saw something a bit batty in this red river hog video clip
(original video here: http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP00004ei)
And If you want to check out more bat videos visit our bat tag group: http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/collections/CCPL00000l
1) A potto, a galago and the legend of the egbere
We did not expect to see the more elusive smaller primates like galagos (bushbabies) and pottos in our video footage. But our amazing, observant and patient citizen scientists managed to find both! We end our Halloween countdown with this legend from Nigeria about bushbabies.
Click here to see all our galago videos: http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/collections/CCPL00009e
and potto videos: http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/collections/CCPL0000h3
10) Chimp&See's Spooky Rompo
We started the countdown with this video from Crimson Dew that sets the tone perfectly and was found by modertaor jwidness. Its just an illusion created by a foggy and wet camera lens (or is it?!? muahhahahahahahah!) or perhaps the legendary Rompo?
original video can be found here: http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP00052tm1
9) Spiders
We've got some great spider videos on Chimp&See, sometimes they can even be a bit distracting! Citzien scientist Boleyn commented that "because of the #spider I almost missed the #genet" on this video from Muddy frost: http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP0003qe1
Also, we suspect that these floaty orbs found by StarwatcherHB and Zanna640 are actually out of focus spiders near the camera lens at Dry Lake but secretly we hope they are benevolent forest spirits like the Kodama or Yumboes. http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP0006w71
Here are a few more spider videos to make your skin crawl:
- This close-up found by DataDroid at Muddy Frost: http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP0003wii
- Spider on a log found by Snorticus at Muddy frost: http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP0004lgb
- and Jokergirl found this big spider just dropping in at Cold Snowflake: http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP00020n3
8) Elephantom
Citizen scientist moderator ksigler noted that these elephants seems to appear out of nowhere at Cool Silence. It's amazing how in all of our videos these massive beasts seem to be so unobtrusive in the forest, ghost-like one might say.
http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP0002p15
7) Attack of the not so killer bees
Citizen scientist Eswiniarski is pretty sure that this guinea baboon was stung by a bee in this video from Dry Lake. Luckily he seems to have made a quick recovery.
originals here: http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP000726c and http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP000726d
6) Ghost & Pirate Chimps
Night mode on our camera traps sometimes makes the chimps look extra ghostly on the videos. Citizen scientist MargC found that our ginger chimp from Dry Lake named Roux looks especially pale in black and white (http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP0006ovo and you can see more videos of Roux here: http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/collections/CCPL0000fm)
While matching chimps, we rely on special features that distinguish each chimp from one another.The night videos are often tricky for this purpose since many of the features get washed out in low light. Citizen scientists Eswiniarski and AnLand noticed however that this male chimp from Lingering Shape has a special feature that is probably only seen at night: a right eye that does not reflect any light.
(original videos: http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP0005mzg and http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP0005mz8)
5) Fires of Samhain
Before Halloween was Halloween, it was Samhain. And a big part of Samhain is fire. "It is suggested that the fires were a kind of imitative or sympathetic magic – they mimicked the Sun, helping the "powers of growth" and holding back the decay and darkness of winter. They may also have served to symbolically "burn up and destroy all harmful influences".Accounts from the 18th and 19th centuries suggest that the fires (as well as their smoke and ashes) were deemed to have protective and cleansing powers".
We have a lot of fires at our current site Dry Lake and they burn during the day and night. Some are natural due to the dryness of the site and some are set by people for agricultural purposes.
How do chimpanzees react to fire you ask? Check out this paper by Pruetz and LaDuke "Reaction to fire by savanna chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) at Fongoli, Senegal: Conceptualization of "fire behavior" and the case for a chimpanzee model."
Thanks to citizen scientists starwatcherHB, Morra and clt21duke for highlighting these great clips (http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP0006r5w , http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP00075a6 , http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP0006ob4)
4) The forests have eyes (and they are adorable, I mean spooky)
Thanks to citizen scientists jwidness and snorticus for finding these great clips from Red Water and Dry Lake! (http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP0003a1x , http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP0007ape)
3) Halloween photobomb
Ever get that feeling that there is sssssssssssome body behind you? Citizen Scientist rlb66xyz 6 noticed that this Cool Silence duiker is being seriously photobombed by a snake slithering towards it in the lower right part of the video right above the duiker's head. Sssssssssssssneaky!
2) Going batty
You wouldn't guess that we'd get a lot of bats on our camera traps - but we do! In this clip from Quiet Wood citizen scientist markehurd saw something a bit batty in this red river hog video clip
(original video here: http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP00004ei)
And If you want to check out more bat videos visit our bat tag group: http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/collections/CCPL00000l
We did not expect to see the more elusive smaller primates like galagos (bushbabies) and pottos in our video footage. But our amazing, observant and patient citizen scientists managed to find both! We end our Halloween countdown with this legend from Nigeria about bushbabies.
Bushbabies in the Yoruba language are called 'egbere' and their legend has been passed from generation to generation. The egbere are little, supernatural human like creatures(or spirits) that wonder through the forest carrying a mat (their tail) and lamp (their eyes). Their unique cry sounds like that of a child or little baby which lures humans to them at night.According to popular folklore, bushbabies are usually encountered by hunters deep in the forests. It is said that anyone who is able to steal an egbere's mat will become rich. But, the person has to withstand 7 days of tribulation caused by the creature who wants its property back and the hunter must not lose site of the mat during this time. During those days, the person will not be able to sleep because of the creature's incessant cries which only he can hear. If the person gives up within the 7 days, the Bush Baby will kill them, the fate that awaits most people who try to steal the egbere's mat!adapted from http://www.mojidelano.com/2013/11/when-folklore-meets-reality-bush-baby.html and http://knowalotmore.blogspot.de/2012/12/top-5-scariest-nigerian-spirit-creatures.html
Click here to see all our galago videos: http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/collections/CCPL00009e
and potto videos: http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/collections/CCPL0000h3
We hope you enjoyed our 10 day countdown and we wish you a very Happy Halloween from Chimp&See!
