There is this saying, that a picture speaks a thousand words. Hence, it is not surprising to hear that there has been efforts to ensure that we can record all of our adrenaline pumping adventures using an action camera so that we need not use words to regale others with our previous exploits, as a video recording of the event will do the job just well. Well, how about capturing wildlife? Apparently, a collection of hundreds of thousands of snapshots of animals in their natural habitat has been amassed thanks to a bunch of strategically placed automatic cameras in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania.
These images have aided scientists greatly when it comes to observing the natural behavior as well as interactions of the creatures, as they remain free from any external influence or disturbance by humans. This includes the eating, sleeping, grooming, playing, and fighting patterns – basically any and every activity in the field of view would be recorded for posterity. Of course, to sort through this massive collection of information is no mean task, which is why there has been an army of public volunteers to assist in this classification exercise.
The project name is known as the “snapshotserengeti citizen science project”, where a whopping 225 cameras located across more than 1,000 sq km of the Serengeti get the job done, and these cameras are triggered by an infrared and motion sensor.