Thursday, December 31, 2015

Thank you all and Happy New Year!

It's the last day of the year so we wanted to thank you all for working on Chimp&See with us! Our citizen scientists and moderators are truly amazing and we look forward to a great 2016 with you all, full of new discoveries and fun videos!

A special thank you to the moderators: Quia, Ksigler, AnLand, Jwidness & Yshish for their incredible dedication this year!

Pant Hoots for everyone and wishing you all a great start to the new year!

If you want to see the best videos of 2015 and vote on your favourites like the one of Esme below, go here http://cands.polldaddy.com/s/bestof2015


Saturday, December 26, 2015

VOTE NOW for the Best of 2015!

Earlier this month, we asked you to think about the best videos on Chimp & See in 2015 in the categories of Favorite Chimp, Funniest Video, Best Camera Reaction, Creepiest Video, Cutest Video, and Biggest Surprise. Thank you for all the amazing nominations!! Now, it's time to vote on them!

We have a survey set up here where you can view the cream of the crop, according to your fellow citizen scientist volunteers and the science team. It's a great chance to look back over the fascinating things we've discovered this year, and give your input on what is the best of the best. (Don't feel bad about playing favorites -- it's an honor just to be nominated! ;-) )

As you view each video, you have the opportunity to give it a score of 1 (low) to 5 (high). Voting ends on Thursday, January 7th. Afterward, we'll tally the scores to find the winners in each category.

Also, the survey is open to anyone (1 entry per computer), so feel free to share this "highlight reel" with family and friends so they can see how much fun you've been having here!

If you have any problems or questions, please let us know. Enjoy, have fun, and may the best clips win!


(Voting takes about 20 minutes, though you are free to vote on as many or as few videos as you'd like. Be sure to submit your votes before January 7, 2016, at 11:00pm EST. Votes are anonymous. One entry per computer.)




Wednesday, December 23, 2015

DailyZoo mongoose vs duiker - last day for 2015 best video nominations!

Last day to nominate your favourite chimpandsee.org videos of 2015 here: http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/boards/BCP000000c/discussions/DCP0000lrf

Like in this mongoose versus duiker clip - who will prevail? ;)


Your chimp&see moderators will be collecting the nomination videos starting tomorrow and final voting will soon follow!

original video here:http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP0005bwu

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

DailyZoo Great Blue Turaco

We've had lots of great nominations so far and now there are only 2 days left to nominate your favourite chimpandsee.org videos of 2015. Were these bright great blue turacos one of the biggest surprises we had on camera this year? Nominate your favourites at: http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/boards/BCP000000c/discussions/DCP0000lrf



original vid here: http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP0005wov

Monday, December 21, 2015

Chimpanzees at night

It’s the 21st of December – Winter solstice in the Northern hemisphere – and with over 16 hours of darkness the longest night here in Europe. These “dark times” motivated us to talk about chimpanzee activity at night and what you can see about it over at Chimp & See.

Chimps are not really known for any nocturnal behavior – in fact, not much is known about it at all in the wild, as research teams observing chimp communities during the day usually leave the group after the chimpanzees have made their nests for the night. Nightly vocalization (e.g., long distance calls) and other activity indicators had been recorded in the wild and in captive (zoo) apes, but the reasons for staying up late or even waking up and any possible activities lie mostly – well – in the dark.

Usually, it is assumed that chimpanzees mostly sleep through the night. In areas where chimpanzees live, sunset and sunrise varies not much seasonally and the length of the night (defined as the dark period between sunset and sunrise) is between 11 and 13 hours with only small changes during the year. Because of relatively poor night vision (like us humans) and with known predators (like leopards) active during the night, it is assumed that chimps generally stay in the safety of their nests through the nighttime hours from dusk until next day’s dawn. Given these considerations, we expected it to be very rare to see the chimpanzees at night.

An adult male balancing across a small creek at 5.33 a.m. (Muddy Frost 7)

Nonetheless, at almost each research site up at Chimp & See until now we have seen at least on one occasion what we call the “nightchimps” – chimpanzees that are caught on camera while it is dark. At most sites, these “nighttime” chimp activities (mostly traveling, some feeding) are during the early hours of the day (just before 6 a.m.) and are not considered very unusual. Depending on the distance to a desired feeding patch (e.g., fruit trees), chimps will get up early enough to reach them – or reach them first if feeding competition is an issue.

This chimpanzee infant is very tired on mom's back at 1.46 a.m. (Dry Lake 11)

But at the current site Dry Lake – the first in a dry savannah habitat in West Africa – we could collect significantly more “nightchimps” videos and several of them with time stamps very late at night. Currently, it is wild speculation why the chimps are active so late and why there are considerably more videos from the very early hours of the day than from other sites. One obvious reason might be the hot climate with day temperatures of over 40 °C during the dry season. Almost all “nightchimps” videos found until now have date stamps from March to May (in 2013) with hot temperatures and numbers of recorded “nightchimps” both peaking in April. The chimpanzees may just avoid the very hot day temperatures and feed and/or travel during the cooler morning and late evening hours. They might also need to forage longer or in a bigger area to find enough food. Other factors (like human pressure and domestic animals) may play a role but need to be analyzed and compared with other research sites. Certainly, something the science team will look into.


A family of three at 8.59 p.m. (Dry Lake 11)

Friday, December 18, 2015

Monday, December 14, 2015

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Nominate Your Favorites for the Best of 2015!

We've had a great year at Chimp & See, thanks to you, and along the way, you've discovered some really amazing things caught on the camera traps. We thought it would be fun to look back over the great footage from this year and share some of the best! Who was your favorite chimp? Was there a clip that made you LOL or say "eww," or that was totally unexpected? What were the best and most memorable clips of 2015? Share your favorites, and then we'll vote!



We want to see the best clips in the following categories:

  • Favorite chimp
  • Funniest clip
  • Best camera reaction
  • Creepiest clip
  • Cutest clip
  • Biggest surprise

To nominate your favorites, just post a reply to  http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/boards/BCP000000c/discussions/DCP0000lrf that includes the clip ID (e.g., ACP0001234) and the category for each nomination. The thread will stay open for 2 weeks so you have time to find your favorites, and if you have trouble narrowing it down, it's okay to nominate more than one clip for a category. Then, we'll collect all the nominations, and you can vote on your favorites for all of 2015.

If you have a clip in mind but can't find it, or you want some ideas, here are some places to look:

Your profile -- scroll down to see your favorites or any collections you made
The master list of chimps
The DailyZoo nominations
Other keyword collections -- browse under the behavior tags (like selfie, surprise, camera reaction, playing, etc.) or by species

Sound like fun? Let's get started! We look forward to seeing your favorites. :-D

Monday, December 7, 2015

DailyZoo: Porcupines with their porcupette

Today I learned: a baby porcupine is called a porcupette


original video here: http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP0006sv1

Join us at chimpandsee.org to watch and annotate videos from across Africa!

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

DailyZoo: Chimpanzee camera test

Not only do we have helpful baboons at chimpandsee.org but also expert chimpanzee camera testers.


original video here: http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/subjects/ACP0006hsd