A big than you to MDR Wissen for their continued support of ChimpandSee.org!
Wednesday, July 17, 2019
Chimp&See featured on MDR Wissen
Ein großes Dankeschön an MDR Wissen für die weitere Unterstützung von ChimpandSee.org!
A big than you to MDR Wissen for their continued support of ChimpandSee.org!
A big than you to MDR Wissen for their continued support of ChimpandSee.org!
Monday, July 15, 2019
Chimp&See is back! Chimp&See ist zurück! ¡Chimp&See ha vuelto! Chimp&See est de retour! Chimp&See je zpět!
From African golden cats to zebra duikers, Chimp&See lets you get up close and personal with African wildlife
Have you ever wondered what an elephant gets up to during a typical day? Or maybe what a baboon sounds like? What about the social circles of chimpanzees? If so, then good news – you’re not alone! Thousands of people from all walks of life have come together to form a community at Chimp&See, a citizen science project hosted by Zooniverse where members of the public can volunteer their time to watch, classify, and discuss camera trap videos taken from sites all across Africa as part of the [Pan African Programme: The Cultured Chimpanzee (PanAf)](http://panafrican.eva.mpg.de/) from the [Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology](https://www.eva.mpg.de/index.html).
"The growing field of citizen science is centered around the idea that involving the general public in scientific research can potentially produce more accurate data faster than a just few scientists could", says Mimi Arandjelovic, primatologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. "At Chimp&See, citizen scientists can classify videos to tell the official research team which species of animal is present, how many individuals there are, which behaviors they are doing, and, in the case of chimpanzees, identifying the specific individuals who are there." With this information, the research team can determine the habitat distribution of dozens of species, how they interact with one another and answer a myriad of evolutionary, ecological and conservation questions facing African wildlife today.
Citizen scientists can also directly contribute to studying how chimpanzees use tools as well as their social behaviors. If you’re lucky, you can spot a chimpanzee using tools to accomplish tasks like cracking nuts or collecting honey– something that was once thought to be a uniquely human behavior. Given how closely related human beings and chimpanzees are, collecting data like this can help researchers uncover how our ancestors lived, evolved, and became dependent upon tools for survival. "The project also aims to inspire people and organizations to take an interest in learning about and protecting these stunning habitats and the amazing animals that live there", says Hjalmar Kühl, an ecologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv).
Between 2015 and 2018, over 50,000 citizen scientists at Chimp&See classified more than 140,000 videos and contributed to the data that was used in papers on nocturnal chimpanzee activity and ape reactions to camera traps. Starting July 15th, Chimp&See will relaunch on its new platform with over 40,000 videos from two new research sites, with 26 additional sites and hundreds of thousands of more videos planned for the future. We are also super excited to announce that thanks to an amazing team of volunteer translators, ChimpandSee.org will be available in German, Spanish, French and Czech with Italian and Chinese planned for the near future.
If you have never classified animals and their behaviors before, don’t worry! There is a classification guide and an experienced team of moderators to help answer any questions that come up along the way. We want to thank everyone who has contributed so far and look forward to working with our growing community in the years to come! "Chimp&See is a great way for families, classrooms, and individuals to get involved in science", says Arandjelovic. "So, whether you’re curious about what chimpanzees do with their friends, or you want to make meaningful contributions to science, consider joining the Chimp&See community. With so many new videos, you’re sure to find something worth watching."
--
Press release in English
Pressemitteilung auf Deutsch
Comunicado de prensa en español
Communiqué de presse en français
Tisková zpráva v češtině
"The growing field of citizen science is centered around the idea that involving the general public in scientific research can potentially produce more accurate data faster than a just few scientists could", says Mimi Arandjelovic, primatologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. "At Chimp&See, citizen scientists can classify videos to tell the official research team which species of animal is present, how many individuals there are, which behaviors they are doing, and, in the case of chimpanzees, identifying the specific individuals who are there." With this information, the research team can determine the habitat distribution of dozens of species, how they interact with one another and answer a myriad of evolutionary, ecological and conservation questions facing African wildlife today.
Citizen scientists can also directly contribute to studying how chimpanzees use tools as well as their social behaviors. If you’re lucky, you can spot a chimpanzee using tools to accomplish tasks like cracking nuts or collecting honey– something that was once thought to be a uniquely human behavior. Given how closely related human beings and chimpanzees are, collecting data like this can help researchers uncover how our ancestors lived, evolved, and became dependent upon tools for survival. "The project also aims to inspire people and organizations to take an interest in learning about and protecting these stunning habitats and the amazing animals that live there", says Hjalmar Kühl, an ecologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv).
Between 2015 and 2018, over 50,000 citizen scientists at Chimp&See classified more than 140,000 videos and contributed to the data that was used in papers on nocturnal chimpanzee activity and ape reactions to camera traps. Starting July 15th, Chimp&See will relaunch on its new platform with over 40,000 videos from two new research sites, with 26 additional sites and hundreds of thousands of more videos planned for the future. We are also super excited to announce that thanks to an amazing team of volunteer translators, ChimpandSee.org will be available in German, Spanish, French and Czech with Italian and Chinese planned for the near future.
If you have never classified animals and their behaviors before, don’t worry! There is a classification guide and an experienced team of moderators to help answer any questions that come up along the way. We want to thank everyone who has contributed so far and look forward to working with our growing community in the years to come! "Chimp&See is a great way for families, classrooms, and individuals to get involved in science", says Arandjelovic. "So, whether you’re curious about what chimpanzees do with their friends, or you want to make meaningful contributions to science, consider joining the Chimp&See community. With so many new videos, you’re sure to find something worth watching."
--
Sunday, July 14, 2019
Chimp&See relaunches July 15th, 2019!
🐵 On #WorldChimpanzeeDay we are super happy to announce that TOMORROW, July 15th 2019, we are finally relaunching ChimpandSee.org with lots of new upgrades !!!!
Details to come tomorrow, see you back soon at Chimp&See!
Details to come tomorrow, see you back soon at Chimp&See!
Thursday, July 11, 2019
With Heavy Hearts: Rest in Power Dawna Wallis (aka 'Snorticus')
It is with a very heavy heart that we post today to pay tribute to Dawna Wallis (aka Chimp&See citizen scientist "@Snorticus") who we recently found out passed away on June 13 2019.Dawna was one of our long time participants and her enthusiasm and kindness were infectious! In fact, one of our PanAf scientist had even written to her about doing field work as she was so observant and keen at Chimp&See.
Thank you so much Dawna for all the chimp collages you shared, all the chimps you helped identify, all the great chimp names you gave and all the fun discussions we had about wildlife, you will be so very dearly missed. We wish your family all the best and send our deepest condolences to them.
Below, a few of the tributes to Dawna we have received:
"What sad news indeed, and what a shock. Dawna was so helpful to me during my early days with C&S and her sense of humour often made me smile. Please convey my sympathies to her family. "
-Jane aka @Batfan
"That is such sad news. Please pass on my condolences and best wishes to Dawna's husband and family."
-Fiona aka @puddock
"I'm shocked and very sad. I very much liked Dawna's subtle power of observation, her humor and her entire presence."
-Lucia aka @Luca-chimp
"That is so very sad... I don't know what C&S would have done without her contributions, and it definitely would have missed out on many laughs. We were blessed to have her."
-Kris aka @ksigler
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry. Dawna always voiced her independent opinion when it came to chimp matching. She did not let other people's opinions take over to what she actually saw. I learned from her lots about how different light, shadows, and colors can make a chimp look like. She discussed again and again how the way a video / image was taken and then presented influences what we believe to see and that you really need to focus on every detail (especially the ears - one of her specialities) and not shrug it off for a seemingly harmonious sum of the parts.
But most of all, she was an appreciated voice and friend on twitter with opinions about the world - and chimpanzee conservation."
-Anja aka @AnLand
"I am so so sorry to read those lines. Deeply shocking and sad indeed.Although I weren't that close with her, she seemed like a very nice person, passionate about everything she worked on."
-Zuzi aka @yshish
"It is a shocking and very sad news. I knew her less than others. However, I remember Dawna as such a helpful, and very kind lady.
She will be deeply missed."
-Flavie aka @Orohena
"I am very sad and shocked. I will miss Dawna's smart and friendly nature very much. She also leaves a large gap at Chimp&See."
-Heike aka @HeikeW
"I am terribly sorry. I do not know what to say, I am in shock. I am really sorry."
-Paula aka @PauDG
"Oh no, this is so sad, I'm deeply shocked! I liked her very much, her humor, her power of observation, her intelligence, her sense of justice, her lovely character. I enjoyed very much to communicate with her also on facebook. I will carry her in my heart."
-Heidi aka @Boleyn
“Dear Dawna, you have been a wonderful companion in this amazing journey of species conservation, who always understood the meaning of the words ´team work´. I will be greatly missing you. My thoughts are with your family and friends during this difficult time. See you somewhere, wherever there are animals to protect around <3 “
-Nuria aka @NuriaM
"What sad news 😢. I thought I had not seen her around much, but assumed it might be due to her waiting for the relaunch. Thank you for telling me. She will definitely be missed."
-Laura aka @LauraKLynn
One of many examples of Dawna's incredible detective work:
They both have odd 'butterfly' shaped nostrils. Big ears sit high on the head.
Infant has pale fingers & ear folds in especially big ear, dark line in middle of the curved brows
Similar profiles, similar shape left ear positioned high on the head:
long nipple on females & pale fingers on infant
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