A quarter of our wild mammals face extinction. MammalWeb is a new internet platform to engage citizens in helping to save wildlife and better connect with nature. Building on a successful project created by Durham University, MammalWeb development will enable users to deploy cameras, and classify and analyse photos of mammals for scientific research. It will give everyone a unique opportunity to share experiences and to make a personal and significant contribution to nature conservation.
Today knowledge is poor about mammals in the wild. This includes charismatic species of high human interest, endangered species and even those considered as pests. Scientists need better understanding of animal populations, trends and habitat, to achieve effective conservation. The public is often disconnected from nature but keen to find a way to contribute to animal protection. MammalWeb will engage citizens globally in the struggle to reverse the decline of species that we all care about.
Thanks to innovative technologists from Monterail, MammalWeb can be developed to give citizen scientists everywhere a window into the diversity and activity of rarely seen species. The new platform will allow groups anywhere to set up citizen science projects and truly engage with nature. Importantly ecologists and biologists will gain in-depth data to analyse behavior and gather invaluable new insights regarding mammal protection, in order to set up effective conservation strategies.
The outcome of MammalWeb's development will be a scalable platform supporting an international citizen science community. The community will undertake mammal research projects capturing photos, classifying and analysing them in support of conservation programmes. MammalWeb represents a step change in the study of mammal populations, enabling better understanding of how to protect them and ultimately influencing mammal conservation policies. Your contribution will help make all this possible.
