Now you have another way to fill in the empty hours of your workday: counting penguins. PenguinWatch.org is looking for volunteers to help them sort through thousands of photographs of penguins to help monitor penguin colonies in Antarctica.
Oxford University launched Penguin Watch last week, bringing together scientists from both the Australian Antarctic Division and the UK. The teams put up cameras throughout the Antarctic area and have taken over 200,000 images of penguins. Because penguins live in such remote areas, this is currently the best way to track them in their natural habitats.
Of course, going through all those images is a chore, so now Penguin Watch is asking for your help. By logging into the Penguin Watch website, you'll get access to random photos from this broad collection. Your job is to study each image and tag all penguins present, including adults, babies and eggs. This will create data for the researchers, which will eventually be plugged into a computer that will help scientists count the penguins and understand what's going on with each colony.
"Counting penguins in images enables our team to learn more about penguin behaviours; every penguin people tag in these images will help us to extract vital information about the birds' winter activity, the impact of predators, and the timing of breeding," says Caitlin Black of Oxford University's Department of Zoology.
You'll also see how penguin families form and can take part in discussions about penguins, the project and the science behind it.
This research is especially vital because when scientists notice that penguin numbers are in decline, it's often too late to intervene. Penguins' numbers have been drastically declining recently, in part due to climate change that has reduced the amount of krill that they feed upon. Oil spills and contaminants also play a big part in penguin deaths, as well as commercial fishing. By tracking penguins in images, researchers can gather more information about the birds' behavior and breeding, as well as track them by species.
"By enlisting the help of our volunteers we hope to be able to train computers to spot the early warning signs of problems that could lead to a decline," says Dr Tom Hart of Oxford University's Department of Zoology. "This kind of early warning could be extremely useful to inform conservation efforts aimed at mitigating the impact of human activity, such as fishing and oil exploration, on penguin populations already badly affected by climate change."
But until then, you can tell your boss that you're spending your free time at work for penguins and science.
