Normally this would be horrible news, but these traps are animal friendly. Are any traps animal friendly, you may ask? Well yes! Camera traps! 225 camera traps have been set up over 390 square miles in hopes to get a sense of how the Serengeti functions as an ecosystem without humans being present.

Even when animals becoming acclimated to human presence they will still act differently. These cameras give researchers a chance to observe these animals in a way that they haven’t been seen before. It was hoped, when these cameras were set up that they would help researchers observe migration patterns, rare species interactions and even nocturnal animal behavior.

The project was started by the Serengeti Lion Project which tracked lions using collars, but collars are not realistic for keeping track of an ecosystem as diverse as the Serengeti. Now with 225 cameras going off as often as they are they are flooded with pictures, which led to the creation of Snapshot Serengeti.

I feel like I’ve been promoting a lot of websites lately, but I just got my wisdom teeth out and with all of my weird complications I’ve been bed bound for quite a few days. This has been keeping me entertained, which is saying something. This website posts photos captured by the camera traps, and after a short introduction, allows volunteers to catalog the pictures. It’s really quite fun! And I’ve gotten to see some pretty amazing pictures of elephants and giraffes and even baby wildebeest.

Give it a shot! Once a photo is categorized the same 10 times, it is counted as a match. If there are some discrepancies it is shown to 20 more people. You do need to sign up on Zooniverse where people can also identify galaxies and other natural phenomena. Space is pretty cool, but I’m more of a Serengeti person my self.