The Wild Southwest

Updated 09/12/2023

Questions About Identifying Animals

I'm not sure what kind of animal I'm looking at
Give it your best guess! Check out the examples in the field guide to help you out. You can also search the Talk for examples of different animals hashtagged by other volunteers. Don't worry too much about making mistakes: the goal is to have a lot of people labeling the same images, and we will take the average agreement among the labels, so a few individual errors are not a big deal. It's also helpful for us to know what kinds of animals are difficult to identify!

I think I see an animal that is not a choice in the list
We tried to be as comprehensive as possible, but if you see an animal that is not in the list, do not pick a label, but do tell us about it in the Talk forum: click "Done and Talk" after labeling any other animals in the image, and write a message saying what kind of animal you think you saw.

When identification is difficult — a blur, blob, tip of a tail, tuft of fur in close-up - should I still guess at a species ID?
Yes! Even partial animals that you think you can ID please do so, even if you have to make an educated guess. Usually your first instinct is the correct animal. We need the model to be able to ID partial views of animals since these types of images make up a huge portion of what the cameras are able to capture.

Please only use Nothing Here when you cannot find any animal. If you run across something you really cannot even guess at, just click Done & Talk and leave a comment that you could not identify or ask us questions about what you think you might have seen. Never hesitate to post a question in Talk-- the researchers and moderators, @rowan_aspire or @LimaZulu, attempt to answer these types of ID questions with high priority. Asking questions can help you out, and also other volunteers who might have the same question!

If you’ve made your classifications, but then realize you need to edit before you’ve hit the final “Done” — how do you edit?

You have two options:

1- If you realize you need to adjust some part of an individual classification:

• Click on the name in the list (on the right) It will be highlighted in dark-ish blue. Marked in green in the example image
• Adjust whatever detail needs to be changed. In the example picture below, you could click on "Jaguarundi" to adjust the number of animals to 5 or change the behaviors, etc.
• When you make a classification there will be a/several blue rectangle(s)under the lower left corner of the image-- marked in purple and red in the example below. The rectangle(s) show what animal(s) you chose. On the far right side of that box you should see an "x". Every animal you have classified will have its own blue box and "x" below the image-- marked with a blue circle in the example:
  

2- If you realize that you labelled something as the wrong animal and need to completely remove it:

• In the blue rectangle below the image - find the animal you wish to delete
• Click the "x" on the right side of the rectangle containing the animal you wish to remove. It will delete the classification for that animal. You can then choose a new classification.

If, after becoming familiar with a particular camera area, you realize you’ve consistently misidentified a landscape feature or some such in previous classifications, is it possible to go back and correct them?

No, unfortunately it is not possible after you have clicked "Done" or "Done & Talk." Mistakes are factored into our data collection system-- it is part of why we have multiple people view and classify the same image. Basically the system is set up in a manner to use the multiple classifications on each image and we take the average agreed upon answer (also, when there is no agreement, this is also useful information for us!). 15 people's classifications per subject are required for this project. The odds of a majority of those people all making the same mistake is rather low, so no worries!

Questions About Behaviors

Would you like the “optional” classifications completed if we are able to answer?

Ideally yes-- more data is always valuable. But don't stress about it if you are unsure 😃

What is considered a "young" animal?

Answer "yes" to the question about whether or not young are present only if they are dependent young-- i.e., much smaller than the parent and/or otherwise visually distinct, like fawns with spots or javelina "reds".

What types of behaviors are considered “interactions”?

First, the caveat that the behavior tags are subjective, and definitely do not encompass all the possible types of behavior that can be observed; also that it can be difficult to discern the meaning of a behavior with just a single snapshot.

For the purpose of this project, "interacting" is a broad term for any two animals that are engaging in some kind of activity towards each other and not just doing something in parallel-- some examples include playing, fighting, nursing, mating. They also need not necessarily be touching-- eg, two animals having a stare-down with hackles raised. If two animals are together doing another activity like walking, drinking, etc, use those tags rather than interacting, since the primary activity is the movement/eating/etc, the animals focus is more on that rather than on each other.

How should I classify an animal that seems to be looking at/reacting to something out of view of the camera?

It's not very important to us at this point in time; if you'd like to flag it in the Talk for us, we might be able to make use of this information in the future, but it's not a high priority.

If an animal is IN a water basin (e.g., bathing/playing), can it be assumed the critter is also drinking?

Generally, no-- save "eating/drinking" for when the animal is in a more active state of either (head down, water dripping from muzzle, etc).

Other than wildlife interactions that are just plain interesting to share, are there specific behaviors you’d like us to be on the lookout for?

Images with multiple species present, or inter-species interactions would be especially helpful to flag in the Talk. These images will require some special attention in our post-Zooniverse workflow, and while we can automate finding them to some degree (i.e., filter all images with >2 species IDs), flagging them in the Talk brings these images to the immediate attention of the research team and helps us to make a known pool of these images more quickly.

How important is it to note if a subject appears to be sick or deceased?

This is also useful information to flag in the Talk. While it's a long way off, we hope to expand the model in the future to be able to flag illness, injury, and body condition, as this information helps biologists to learn if populations are struggling or otherwise in jeopardy.

When a bird (e.g. a vulture) has wings outspread for sunning/drying, and not in the course of taking flight or landing, is this “resting“ or "standing"?

Use "standing" in this case; in general, resting is more the animal's body lying on the ground or standing on a tree limb in a resting pose - while in trees/bushes/etc birds tend to have one foot up and their head tucked under a wing when sleeping unless they are in a nest - & possibly sleeping. Although sleeping is not a requirement for the use of Resting, it just makes things a bit easier to determine the activity.

When birds sleep while on one or both feet they are technically standing, but Resting is the preferred response.

Regarding the vulture with the sunning/drying wings, that one should be Standing. In one respect they are getting a bit of rest, but they still have to actively keep their wings spread.

Questions About the Project

Where are these images from?
These images were taken using motion triggered cameras at multiple public and private protected areas. The current set of images is from Turner Ranch in New Mexico. Past imagery has come fromLaguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge in Texas; Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, and Red Rock Wildlife Management Area in New Mexico; and Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma.

Is the data collection in this project ongoing, or does it have a specific end date?

There is definitely a lot more planned for this project! Right now we are focusing on data from our partners in New Mexico, and this imagery is largely from the past two years.
You can also check out our sister project, Drones for Ducks, which is also undergoing expansion to the Texas Gulf Coast this year!

Why do some camera traps have fencing, and does it complicate access for the wildlife?
The fences are likely to protect the water reservoir infrastructure from interference by humans and large animals; most wildlife seem to have no trouble passing over, under, or through the fencing.

I don't see my question here!

Head on over to our Talk and we will help you out! Our project manager checks it regularly and can answer any questions you might have about the project as a whole, or specific identification issues. You can also stop by just to chat if you like!