Project: Chimp & See
Like many of you, my earliest memories of “science” in the classroom center on the films we saw about the life and work of Dame Jane Goodall, the English primatologist, anthropologist, and ethologist, whose 55-year study of Gombe chimpanzees has been groundbreaking on countless fronts.
So it’s with great pleasure today that I write a citizen science post on her favorite subject. Chimp & See is a project that allows you to study chimps in their natural habitat… from the comfort of your living room. A team of researchers has collected 7000 hours of footage from camera traps in 15 countries throughout Africa. They want you to watch these videos and tell them what you see.
“By scanning the videos from these traps and identifying the types of species and activity that you see, you’ll help us to understand the lives of these apes—their behaviors, relationships, and environments—and to extrapolate new ideas about human origins.”
The project is part of the Zooniverse group, and thus has their usual expert touch: a great user interface, very clear tutorials, and a method to save your progress. If you already have a Zooniverse login, you can dive right in. If not, you can register once and also access the wide range of projects Zooniverse has in other areas. Meanwhile, be sure to check out the background to the chimpanzee study.