Citizen Scientists

This week we explore the world of citizen science! We are working on three projects:

1.  Whale Song Project.  Online, we are helping scientists identify the songs of pilot whales and killer whales.  The whales have names and their current locations can be tracked on the project website.  By matching spectrographs  (visual images) of the whale songs and comparing the sounds, we can help the scientists create a large data pool.
You can try your hand at this yourself by logging in to the Whale Song Project website at http://whale.fm/


2.  Urban Wildlife at Prairie Ridge Ecostation.  Prairie Ridge Ecostation is managed by the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. Currently, the station has several camera traps set up on the property.  We can help them identify the animals that come and go, both day and night, by sorting through the images from the traps and identifying the animals we see in them....deer, grey fox, red fox, coyote, rabbit....all sorts of critters are around! 

You can contact Chris Goforth at Prairie Ridge for more information, other opportunities to help sort image data or move camera traps.
E mail: chris.goforth@naturalsciences.org
Phone: (919) 707-8882


3.  School of Ants. 
Scientists at University of Florida and at NC State University are trying to collect as much information as possible on all the ant species in the country, and maybe even in the world!  We can help by collecting ant samples and sending them in to the scientists.  Our take-home project today is a kit for doing just this.  Instructions are included with the kit.  Wait for a warm day!

Note: you can mail the samples directly to the address included in the kit, or you can bring them back in to us and we will send them in.

Visit the School of Ants website at http://schoolofants.org/ for more information on the project.  Once you have entered your ant data, you will be able to see your collection information online!