Safari, so good

Have you been on virtual safari yet? If you haven't then you should visit Snapshot Serengeti , a new citizen science project asking online volunteers to identify animals in millions of photos taken by camera traps across Serengeti National Park. The project is a collaboration between biologists at the University of Minnesota and the Zooniverse project, led by Oxford University and Adler Planetarium. As Oxford University's Chris Lintott explained to BBC Nature humans are far better than computers at identifying species from images and by getting people to study millions of photos scientists hope to get a better understanding of what the animals are getting up to when they're not looking. The project launched on 12 December and the response has been phenomenal. 'For days after launch volunteers were classifying more than 10 images a second - 50 a second at peak times,' Rob Simpson of Oxford University and the Zooniverse tells me. 'These people have come from the Zooniverse community and from Facebook - it's been amazing to watch the reaction spread around the globe. Snapshot Serengeti is now at 3.7 million classifications and counting with over 70,000 people visiting and 21,000 people registering with the site.