Wild Mont-Blanc

1. What do I do if I can’t identify the animal in the photo?
2. Why do so many photos contain no animals?
3. What do I do if there are multiple species in the photo?
4. What if I see an animal that is not on your list?
5. What should I do if animals of the same species are engaging in different behaviors?
6. What if I’m not sure how many animals are in a photo?
7. Does an animal have to be in all three images to be counted?
8. How do I determine if an animal is "young"?
9. If I make a mistake, can I correct my observation after it’s been submitted?
10. When and how should I use hashtags?
11. Can I see how many pictures I have classified?
12. What if I want to tell your scientists about something I saw in a photo?
13. What will this information be used for?
14. How can I discuss a photo with others?
15. How can I ask a question that’s not in this FAQ?
16. How can I practice my animal identification skills?

1. What do I do if I can’t identify the animal in the photo?
We realize that some images are too blurry or dark to identify. If this is the case, don’t forget to try clicking the contrast button at the bottom of the photo to see if it helps clarify the image. Even if you’re not sure of what the animal in the photo is, we encourage you to try your best to identify the animals in the photos. Each photo on Wild Mont-Blanc is shown to multiple people. If those people give different responses, we record it as having a low confidence score and flag it for a scientist to review. If the identification is impossible, choose the "I don’t know" category.

2. Why do so many photos contain no animals?
When grass, tree branches or snow move in front of a camera, they result in sequences of "empty" photos. While all of the "empty" images can be frustrating when you want to see animals, we appreciate your effort in classifying the photos as "No animals". This allows us to filter out "empty" images and focus on the animals of interest. We are currently using machine-learning techniques to try to filter out the majority of empty images before they get to you.

3. What do I do if there are multiple different species in the photo?
First, identify one of the animals and answer the questions about it. After you have clicked the "Identify" button, you will be taken back to the classification screen. There, you can identify any other animals. If the two animals belong to different species, but are listed under a broad category such as "Mustelids" or "Other birds", you only need to identify the animals once. When you are finished identifying all of the animals in the photo, click the "Done" button at the bottom of the page.

4. What if I see an animal that is not on your list?
If you think you see an animal that is not on the list, you should first double-check the list. Sometimes, the animal may be hard to find because falls into a broad category, such as "Other birds" or "Mustelids". If nothing matches, choose "I don't know". When you have finished identifying the photo, click the "Talk" button instead of "Next" and tag the photo with the hashtag #new-species and the species that you think it might be. (check out FAQ #10 for our hashtag guidelines).

5. What should I do if animals of the same species are engaging in different behaviors?
On the classification screen, you should select all of the different behaviors displayed in the photo. You do not need to complete separate classifications for animals of the same species performing different behaviors.

6. What if I’m not sure how many animals are in a photo?
Record the number of individuals of each type of animal as best you can. Your best guesses contribute to a collection of responses that lead us to the right answer. Since every photo is seen by multiple volunteers, any mistakes will get outweighed by a larger number of correct answers.

7. Does an animal have to be in all three images to be counted?
No, you should try to record the total number of animals present in the "capture event" (the series of multiple images). So, if you see four wolves in the first image, but then another wolf walks into the second image for a total of five, you should record five wolves.

8. How do I determine if an animal is "young"?
In the Wild Mont-Blanc project, we’ve chosen to define "young" animals as any that are less than a year old. This clearly varies by species, but there are a couple things you can watch for. Size is the most obvious indicator, but biological features like a chamois’ horns do not develop until an individual is close to maturity. A chamois whose horns are just beginning to come in should still be counted as young.

9. If I make a mistake, can I correct my observation after it’s been submitted?
No, you cannot return to a photo to correct a mistake, but don’t worry about it! Your best guesses contribute to a collection of responses that lead us to the right answer. Since every photo is seen by multiple volunteers, any mistakes or misidentifications will eventually be outweighed by a larger number of correct answers.
Of course, we still do encourage you to double check your response before you submit your observation!

10. When and how should I use hashtags?
Hashtags can be added to a photo after your classification by clicking “Done and Talk” and entering a hashtag in the comment section for that photo. When properly used, this provides an excellent learning tool for other volunteers who may want to see examples of a certain species. In that case, one can enter the hashtag reference in the search field on top of a Talk page.
In Wild Mont-Blanc, hashtags can be used to flag unusual observations (interesting photo), high quality image examples of a species or to indicate the presence of a species that doesn’t appear in our list (#new-species, #golden_jackal). Before you tag, decide whether the animal, behaviour or situation might be of interest for the researchers or other citizen scientists.

Wild Mont-Blanc’s hashtag guidelines:
• Use a dash (-) or underscore (_) between the words for animals or situations with a two-word name or reference
• Only use singular, even when you’ve observed multiple animals of the same species in an image
• Only use lower-case letters
• Do not use accents or special characters

Note that hashtags should not be used when you are not fully certain of an identification of a species.

11. Can I see how many pictures I have classified?
Yes, you can!
i. Log in to your Zooniverse account.
ii. Click on your user name in the upper right-hand corner and select "Profile".
iii. Select the tab "Your Stats". This will show you all of the classifications that you have done for Wild Mont-Blanc and any other Zooniverse projects that you have helped.

12. What if I want to tell your scientists about something I saw in a photo?
If you see a weird or funny photo, or a photo showing interesting behavior, you can share those photos on the discussion boards. To do so, click on the "Talk" button and add a comment to the photo. If relevant, add a hashtag that will make it easier to search by keyword, such as #banded-animal or #fun-photo (see FAQ #10 for our hashtag guidelines).

13. How will this information be used?
Visit the About tab to learn more about the goals of the Wild Mont-Blanc project and how we plan use the collected information.

14. How can I discuss a photo with others?
When you have finished classifying the image and clicked the "Done" button, you will be directed to a page with a summary of your classification along with "Talk" and "Next" buttons. If you click on the "Talk" button, your observation will be automatically submitted and you will be brought to the discussion boards for the project you're working on. Here you can then add commentary, ask a question about the photo, add hashtags, add the photo to your favorites, etc.

15. How can I ask a question that’s not in this FAQ?
Start by clicking Talk at the top of the page. Here you can find questions asked by other citizen scientists. If you don’t find the answer you are looking for, click on the channel ". At the bottom of the page, you can create a new discussion. Our moderators check the forums regularly and answer as many questions as we can. Experienced Zooniverse volunteers also participate in these discussions and offer great advice.

16. How can I practice my animal identification skills?
To see gallery of verified photos for each species, visit the Collect tab.

We thank the SnapShot Safari projects team from whom we drew inspiration for writing the Wild Mont-Blanc project texts