Antarctic scientists need your help identifying penguins!
There is just not enough information and data on penguins in regions of Antarctica and scientists are becoming overwhelmed at the prospect of having to identify all the waddling adult penguins, fuzzy little baby chick penguins, and fragile tiny penguin eggs.
Which is why they’re calling for your help to look at pictures of adorable penguins.
PenguinWatch 2.0 is a collective place for global citizens to help identify penguins from cameras scientists placed in 75 Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands.
Lead researcher for the project at Oxford University, Tom Hart, told BBC “We can't do this work on our own, and every penguin that people click on and count on the website - that's all information that tells us what's happening at each nest, and what's happening over time.”
To help preserve species of fuzzballs like Gentoo, Chinstrap, King, Rockhopper, and Adelie penguins, scientists need more info on the number of each, to better understand the effects of climate change on the species. Collecting this data will help scientists manage penguins in Antarctica.
The website says, “Penguin Watch is a citizen science website trying to understand the lives of penguins. We want you to help us mark images taken from nesting sites around Antarctica.”
I tried it out and here’s what you need to know:
PenguinWatch 2.0 starts out asking if there’s any penguins at all in the image.
You can answer “yes,” “no” or even “I can’t tell” because sometimes you’re not sure if it’s a rock or a feathery fellow friend of the earth.
Then you count how many adult, chicks, and eggs are in the image or “other animals!”
Ermagerd too mary penguins!? (Note: If you don't speak Tumblr-ese say it out loud and you'll get it or try this translator)
No problem!
Finally, you can chat with fellow penguin loving peers and debate whether it was a rock or penguin if you want.
And voila! You’ve just contributed to science and preserving the existence of penguins in Antarctic.
So what are you waiting for? In the name of science as well as protecting this fragile ecosystem and species from the effects of overfishing and climate change -- go forth global citizens and click on some pics of penguins!