New Chimp&See paper : Highly precise community science annotations of video camera-trapped fauna in challenging environments.

 New Chimp&See paper out in Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation: "Highly precise community science annotations of video camera-trapped fauna in challenging environments."  https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/rse2.402

Even though they require more time for annotation as compared to stills, camera trap videos provide valuable acoustic and visual information on species behaviour and can improve identification of individuals. 

Using the Community Science (CS) platform Chimp&See (chimpandsee.org), we found that when comparing classification of 13,531 one-minute video clips done by a professional ecologist to those done by 1,744 Chimp&See community scientists, the overall, annotation precision was between 95.4% and 98.1%. Further, citizen scientists provide a wealth of additional information through additional annotations via hashtags in discussion boards. 

Our annotated video data set is already being used for AI algorithm training and our findings demonstrate the competence of community scientists with challenging videos, and hold great promise for future studies on animal behaviour and population monitoring. 

And a MASSIVE thank you and panthoot to our amazing mod @Eweforia (Carol) who made this incredible video abstract of our paper

Visit us at ChimpandSee.org today and contribute to research and conservation !

Matching of other animals

It's always super exciting to find a chimp, gorilla, leopard or elephant, but all animals contribute to the health of the rainforest and identifying them helps us understand ecosystems. It’s not often that a duiker or baboon or even a hyrax stands out from the crowd and can be identified as an individual, but sometimes a health issue or an unusual trait makes them unique. We can learn more about these unique animals if they are spotted multiple times. For instance, it is possible to see if they stay in an area, or manage to thrive despite injuries.

So if you spot a health issue (#health_issue) or an injury (#injury) or a distinctive trait (#atypical), please tag it or let moderator Libby know by entering @burdock and get the chance to name a special animal. If you would like to know more about Other Matchable Animals, go to the new Other Matchable Animals Talk Board.

Here are three that volunteers have found and named:

If you would like to know more about C&S’s Health Issue Mini-project, follow this link on the blue banner on C&S screens.

Libby and the Chimp&See team