Camera traps are increasingly becoming popular, particularly in the fields of ecology and biology. These devices enable scientists to capture how animals, particularly the rare ones, naturally live in their habitats.
In the recent project headed by Alexandra Swanson, called the Snapshot Serengeti, hundreds of motion and heat-sensitive camera traps were placed in an African savanna to identify the wildlife species living there.
The photos were identified by a large group of scientists since more than 40 types of species were captured.
The researchers asked more than 280,000 volunteers to analyze the images taken from 2010 to 2013. Most of the posts found on the Snapshot Serengeti Talk website were captured by cameras in bursts of threes, making an instant GIF when clicked in successive and quick motions.
For easy navigation, website users may also use popular hashtags to find wildlife animals they want to see. For example, if an individual wanted to see photos of butterflies, they can search through the hashtag and the website will generate all photos with "possible" butterflies in it. The categories are varied, with a "humans" category as well. Some people, who perhaps came for a visit, spotted the cameras and posted notes or selfies.
Here are some of the photos from the project's vast library of images:
The camera traps capture the hidden lives of wild animals, but volunteers may help too.
"We all know that people are good at pattern recognition, so harnessing the power of volunteers will become increasingly important for ecology studies," Swanson says. "We can engage people with no scientific background to help in producing publishable scientific research at a scope and scale that would otherwise have been impossible."
