!!! Happy Earth Day and Happy One Year Anniversary to Chimp&See !!!

One year ago today (4/22/15), Chimp & See came to life at Zooniverse.org. Our goal was to engage citizen scientists to help us annotate the thousands of hours of camera trap video footage we have collected as part of the PanAfrican Programme: The Cultured Chimpanzee (PanAf) from across Africa.

Our primary goal with Chimp & See is to better understand chimpanzees, which is why we ask for so much detail from the chimp videos. But it is also important to know the chimpanzee predator density at each site (leopards), the density of certain prey animals (monkeys), the human pressure at each site and the density of species that are food competitors with chimpanzees (elephants, pigs, monkeys and more). These are all factors that directly affect chimpanzee behaviour. Furthermore, we want biodiversity estimates for each site and to ascertain which species make good indicator species for these forests which help us develop better biomonitoring tools. We always anticipated as well to share our data with researchers interested in all the species represented in our camera trap videos.

We are proud and humbled to say that, one year later, our success has been much greater than we had anticipated!

To date, over 7600 Chimp & See citizen scientists have annotated more than 400,000 videos representing over 2.2 million classifications from 13 sites across Africa! And we have identified more than 330 different chimpanzees so far!

We've had some great surprises along the way, from the unexpected species (like our very first West African lions, and the hypnotically-dancing green mamba) to the unexpected behaviours (such as stone throwing, which led to our first paper, goop-eating, and something we like to call 'diddling').  We met some special chimps (like the exotic red-haired lady Roux, the pale-faced Pearl with Flocke her sideways-riding infant, and Dodge, whose disability is outshined by his personality -- also featured in our paper above), as well as a few unique individuals of other species.  And we even learned to speak chimpanzee!

Some "big picture" highlights from this past year include participating in both the Zooniverse Best Practices Workshop in Chicago, USA and the Max Planck Society's Open Science Days in Berlin, Germany and becoming official members of the Bürger schaffen Wissen, Atlas of the Future and European Citizen Science Association as well. We were also featured on Nature.org's Cool Green Science Blog and the Leipzig city portal.

Thanks to the amazing work and initiative of our citizen scientists we have even initiated some very successful mini-projects, as well, including identifying many of the other primate species, and looking at animal camera reactions in our Animal Selfies project.  This work will allow us, and our collaborators, to continue learning from this data for years to come.

"With the help of enthusiastic and engaged citizen scientists, this exciting project has the potential to change our understanding of wild chimpanzee ecology" -- Hjalmar Kuehl, Director of the Great Ape Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig

We could not have come this far without YOU, our volunteers, supporters, and friends.  Every day, we are excited and amazed by the efforts and enthusiasm you've given to C&S.

The PanAf Science Team wants to particularly thank our amazing Chimp&See volunteer moderators for their incredible support and work this past year. We know that thanks to their passion and commitment that our data and videos are in the best hands possible! The Science Team also wants to thank each and every one of our citizen scientists for their contribution to annotating the PanAf videos. Even if you only do it now and then for a few minutes at a time, we value the time and effort you are giving the project! Thank you, Grazie, Dankeschoen, Gracias and Merci !!!!

In addition to this special day, we decided the celebration should last a little longer... and have prizes!  Be sure to head over to the C&S Talk discussion boards after you finish reading this post to learn about some special chimps that are stopping by to party with us!  Find them all, and you could win your own official Chimp & See t-shirt!  This game will run through the end of next week (4/29), and will take place only on the Talk boards, so keep an eye out for them there!  Good luck!

And with that, we say Happy Earth Day, everyone and thank you so very very much for being part of the Chimp & See Community - we absolutely could not do this without you!

P.S.  If you, or someone you know, is still looking for a project for Earth Day, Chimp & See is a fun and rewarding place to volunteer!  It's suitable for kids and adults, from any location, any time of day, in any weather! Plus, with recent and upcoming improvements to our interface, tutorials, and FAQs, we're making it easier than ever to get started making a difference!  So please share this post or get the word out by following & sharing on Facebook and Twitter!

Gorilla and chimp hugs

Chimp&See is now on Atlas of the Future!

Check it out here! http://atlasofthefuture.org/project/chimp-see/

Field Update: First discoveries at a new temporary chimpanzee research site in Gabon!

Arnold, Emily, and Marcel about to enjoy a ride back to the village

This week's field update is from Emily Neil who is working as temporary research site (TRS) managers in Monts de Cristal National Park, Gabon as part of the MPI-EVA's Pan African Programme: The Cultured Chimpanzee and in collaboration with l'Agence Nationale Des Parcs Nationaux Du Gabon.

Emily writes:

We arrived at our fourth potential temporary research site in November, feeling hopeful that this would be where we'd find chimps and begin our study. After three months of wandering the jungles of Monts de Cristal National Park in Gabon, Marcel and I were ready to find a sizable population of chimpanzees! 

Marcel, Yves, and Francois awaiting our ride after a long day of trekking

We arrived at the village and hired an amazing young guide named Arnold. His first day on the job was particularly exciting:

After a hearty breakfast of rice and beans, we entered into the deep, dense jungle. The air was heavy with humidity, and all we could hear were the iconic barking calls of the great blue turaco and the hum of cicadas. It had rained heavily the night before, making the going a bit slow. It is not easy going up and down mud-slicked hills! We slip a lot, and all three of us fall flat on our faces or butts at least once a day. This is usually a great source of entertainment -- who can have the most impressive wipeout of the day? Well, that day I won the award. While looking down at my GPS, I suddenly felt my foot fall down something and then get stuck, causing me to fall forward, right onto my face! Turns out I had stepped into a water-filled elephant footprint, sinking up to my knee, and losing my boot in the process! Luckily my boot wasn't completely submerged, so I quickly snatched it out of the murky footprint-depths, put a plastic bag over my sock to keep it from the now-damp boot, and continued on, pride somewhat still intact. 

Nice example of a natural bridge in our TRS

After about an hour, we got a call from Arnold, who was following us nearby. He had found a chimpanzee tool-use site! Over the course of the day (his very first day on the job, I might add) he helped us find dozens of chimp nests, including several brand-new day nests, and an amazing total of three tool-use sites. We set up camera traps at all the sites we found, and headed back home for the day. On the way back, we very narrowly avoided stepping on a beautiful green bush viper. It seemed sluggish, like it had just eaten, so we took some pictures and continued on. A short time later, we discovered leopard and gorilla prints in the mud, and heard the whistling calls of a flock of African grey parrots overhead.

Nephilia turneri - golden silk orb-weaver. 

It was the size of my hand, and you can really see the golden web!

Bush viper... A beautiful, well-camouflaged, and venomous snake!

Over the next few weeks, we heard, for the first time ever, chimps screaming and drumming. Understandably, we were excited to see if we had gotten anything on video! We were able to retrieve five cameras on the first "camera trap day." We returned home with our pockets full of SD cards, giddy with excitement. But alas, there were no chimp videos! The next day, we retrieved our final three SD cards. We went through two of them... Nothing. The third card had a measly 20 videos on it, most of which would inevitably be false triggers from sunlight or waving plants. I disappointedly began going through the videos anyway. Lo and behold, the very first video had a chimp on it! I hollered, much to the alarm of Marcel, and checked the next video. That very same chimp was using a tool!! All of our hard work had paid off. We are so excited to see what our new site has in store for us next.

Our first chimp spot!

Primate Locomotion

We all know that one thing that sets us apart from other primates is that as adults, the majority of our locomotion is upright on two legs.  The scientific term for this is "obligate bipedalism" -- obligate here meaning that our anatomy does not allow us to walk any other way, and bipedal meaning on two (bi) feet (ped).  We may be special in walking upright, but that definitely doesn't mean that all other primates move about in the same way!  Let's take a look at how some of the other primates we've seen on Chimp & See get around.  For each species below, we'll look at their most common form of locomotion.

Starting with the primates most distantly related to us, we have galagos and pottos.  These are both small, nocturnal, arboreal, solitary primates, but they have surprisingly different modes of locomotion.  Pottos generally move by climbing slowly and deliberately, using their arms and legs about equally.  Most galagos (though it differs somewhat by species) are great leapers, sometimes traveling more than 2.5 meters (8.2 ft) in one jump!  They get most of their power from strong legs, which are much longer than their arms.  Since they're a bit hard to see in the black and white videos, here are a couple pictures to help familiarize you with these primates.

 

 Potto photo credit: Josh More                                                Galago photo credit: Wegmann

This video shows a clip of a slow-moving potto, then a couple leaping galagos.

Original clips: ACP00058om, ACP000cb2b

Before we look at the next clips, a very quick side lesson in skeletal anatomy.  When humans walk, they contact the ground with the heel bone: the calcaneus, shown in yellow in the image on the left below.  Some animals, like your dog or cat, only contact the ground with the bones that make up the toes.  Their heel bone, shown again in yellow in the wolf skeleton on the right, remains off the ground throughout their stride.

 

Human foot image credit: DBCLS                                                                                   Wolf image credit: Royal Natural History Volume 1


That sets the stage for the the African monkeys.  We have seen over a dozen different species of monkey, but we mostly see them using one of two subtly different types of terrestrial locomotion.  The first is called palmigrade quadrupedalism -- palmigrade meaning that they place the whole palm on the ground as they walk, and quadrupedal meaning on four (quad) feet (ped).  This is equivalent to the way humans place their whole foot on the ground.  The other type of locomotion we see in African monkeys on Chimp & See is called digitigrade quadrupedalism, where digitigrade means on the fingers/toes (digits).  This is equivalent to the way your dog or cat would walk, without touching the heel bone to the ground and instead supporting the weight on the fingers/toes.  At first glance, both of these types of locomotion look quite similar in C&S clips, but when you look closely, you can see how the wrist/ankle are in different positions, either contacting the ground, or held above it.

The first clip in this video is a green monkey walking palmigrade.  With each step, the whole hand and foot contact the ground.  The second clip shows a patas monkey walking digitigrade.  Like your cat or dog, the palm and heel remain raised off the ground as the monkey walks.

Original clips: ACP0006fnm, ACP000638c

Last we have the chimps and gorillas.  As adults, both gorillas and chimps knuckle-walk for the majority of their locomotion, but there is some debate as to whether this evolved independently in each lineage, or just once in an ancestor.  Either way, they both curl their fingers under, contacting the ground with the knuckles.  This is actually a behavior that has to develop in infant chimps and gorillas.  When they take their first quadrupedal steps, they walk palmigrade, just like the green monkey in the previous video.  Gorillas make the switch to knuckle-walking earlier than chimps do: at 10 months of age about 70% of quadrupedalism is knuckle-walking in gorillas, while only about 20% is knuckle-walking in chimps.

This video shows two adult chimps knuckle-walking, followed by an infant chimp taking a few palmigrade steps.  Last, a handsome silverback gorilla knuckle-walks past the camera.

Original clips: ACP0004pfv, ACP0004pfx, ACP00078z2, ACP00078z3, ACP000bxr0

As you can see, we've been able to watch quite a variety of primates on Chimp & See, moving about in many different ways!  Join us and see if you can spot some of them yourself!


References:
Off, Eileen C., and Daniel L. Gebo. "Galago locomotion in Kibale National Park, Uganda." American journal of primatology 66.2 (2005): 189-195.
Butynski, Thomas M., and Yvonne A. de Jong. "Natural history of the Somali lesser galago (Galago gallarum)." Journal of East African Natural History 93.1 (2004): 23-38.
Schaefer, Melissa S., and Leanne T. Nash. "Limb growth in captive Galago senegalensis: getting in shape to be an adult." American journal of primatology 69.1 (2007): 104-112.
Gebo, Daniel L. "Locomotor diversity in prosimian primates." American Journal of Primatology 13.3 (1987): 271-281.
Patel, Biren A. "Functional morphology of cercopithecoid primate metacarpals." Journal of human evolution 58.4 (2010): 320-337.
Isbell, Lynne A., et al. "Locomotor activity differences between sympatric patas monkeys (Erythrocebus patas) and vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops): implications for the evolution of long hindlimb length in Homo." American Journal of Physical Anthropology 105.2 (1998): 199-207.
Kivell, Tracy L., and Daniel Schmitt. "Independent evolution of knuckle-walking in African apes shows that humans did not evolve from a knuckle-walking ancestor." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106.34 (2009): 14241-14246.
Doran, D. M. "Ontogeny of locomotion in mountain gorillas and chimpanzees." Journal of Human Evolution 32.4 (1997): 323-344.

Field Update: Camp in Sierra Leone

Kyle Yurkiw, temporary research site manager for the PanAfrican Programme: The Cultured Chimpanzee at one of our sites in Sierra Leone (and expert beard grower), gives a small tour of his home for the next 13 or so months!

Chimp ID: Pearl and her infant Flocke

During the year, I will introduce individual chimps and show how we came up with a specific match. Following is irregular series, you can learn what to look for when comparing two chimps, how to deal with different camera angles and black-and-white footage, and how hard it is to identify infants and often even juveniles. 

Today’s Chimp ID has been very easy matching as we almost immediately recognized this chimpanzee’s most characteristic trait. It all started with a discussion about a distant “pale female” with a dependent infant, mostly carried dorsally (i.e., on the back).

Chimpanzees are born with light-colored faces that darken with age unlike gorillas and bonobos who are born with their dark-colored faces. Depending on subspecies and region, we expect infants and juveniles to have light-colored faces (sometimes with darker eye-masks already early in life), but it is seen less often in adults. As we observed this “pale female” with an infant, this suggested that she was rather an adult. So, her light-colored face was unusual and something to look for.

The "pale" face

With the first close-up, it became clearer that the “paleness” seemed to be an extensive de-pigmentation of her face, brows and ears. It shines almost white with some bigger freckles. In a later video, we could see that both hands are affected too. Although her untypical face made several of us concerned, overall she did not look sick or suffering. Her baby appeared healthy and lively. Some of us noticed frequent slow-swinging head movements which could possibly indicate bad vision or perhaps are just caused by less protection against the glaring sun due to the skin condition or are from some other cause entirely. Unfortunately, her skin condition seems to be changing over the course of one year. While the de-pigmentation has already been fully present when video footage started; a year later one could see that the ears have thickened and crumpled. Yet, her appearance was still robust and she seems to be able to take care of her infant. We also did not notice any other chimps with similar symptoms suggesting that whatever is afflicting her, is not spreading across the community.

Because of her pale complexion, volunteer Snorticus named her Pearl. We named her infant Flocke (the German word for flake), because of its fluffy hair-do.

Another interesting point in this match is that – after an observation of citsci moderator jwidness – we were able to reliably identify Pearl and Flocke from the back view, i.e., without even seeing Pearl’s white face. Flocke has a very special way of riding on mom’s back, using always a protuberance from the female to support the right foot while they walk.

Back view (detail): notice Flocke's right foot seeking support

All videos of Pearl and Flocke can be found in this collection.

You can join the matching discussions at Chimp & See!