Thank you for helping us identifying thousands of animals! We are currently using the photographs to study the number and distribution of animals in New Zealand cities. We will be back soon with the results and with more photos!
FAQ
I can't identify the animal. What choice should I select?
Why do I need to specify how confident I am?
What is that black rectangle in the middle of some photos?
I have selected the wrong classification by mistake. What should I do?
There are various animals of the same species in the photo. Do I need to classify each animal?
Can I identify the species of birds?
I can't identify the animal. What choice should I select?
Sometimes the quality of the photos makes animal identification extremely difficult. Try your best! Research has shown that it's better to guess the animal rather than report "I can't identify the animal". We compare your identification with identifications made by other users, so that we can find out "unidentifiable" photos.
Why do I need to specify how confident I am?
Telling us how confident you are with your classification is really important to maximise your help. To make sure the photographs are correctly classified, multiple volunteers are required to classify each photo. After some research, we have learnt that the number of volunteers required per photograph can be reduced by taking into account how confident people are with their classifications.
What is the black rectangle that appears in some of the photos?
We are evaluating how efficient remote cameras are in comparison with more traditional monitoring tools. The black rectangle is a non-invasive monitoring device known as "tracking tunnel". In these tracking tunnels, small animals, like rats and mice, walk across an ink pad and their footprints are recorded in a piece of paper. Based on the footprints, scientists can monitor rodents, hedgehogs and even native insects like weta. Tracking tunnels are commonly used throughout New Zealand. Check out how you can make your own and discover what animals are in your garden.
I have selected the wrong classification by mistake. What should I do?
Unfortunately, you can't come back but don't worry we show the photographs to multiple users to reduce the chances of misidentifying photos.
There are various animals of the same species in the photo. Do I need to classify each animal?
If there are 2 or more animals of the same species you don't need to classify each animal. If you see two different species classify one species at the time. Once you are happy with your classifications click "Done".
Can I identify the species of birds?
We set up the camera traps to monitor introduced mammals. However, birds also trigger our cameras. Most of these birds are introduced species (blackbirds, song thrushes, dunnocks ...). We are really interested in studying how introduced mammals affect bird species and their numbers but to efficiently monitor birds we use other techniques instead of camera traps.
If you find an unusual or rare bird though please let us know! Select "Bird", click the “Done & Talk ” button, select the bird species talk board, and hashtag the name of the species. For example, if the bird recorded in the photographs is a tīeke write "#tīeke".
If you are not very familiar with the kind of birds that are commonly found in New Zealand cities please have a look at this great poster by Landcare Research!
If you have more questions please post them here!