The wait is over…!

It’s been a busy year in the Gorongosa National Park! From horrific tropical storms to wild dog puppies, there’ve been many exciting changes to our animal community. Our scientists have been hard at work gathering data crucial for understanding the effects of these dynamic processes. Once again, we’re excited to announce that we NEED YOUR HELP! The brand new season of WildCam Gorongosa has just launched with new images, new species, and new questions to answer! Head on over to the Zooniverse or hang around to catch up on some new developments that have been happening since our last batch of camera photos… 

So what’s new in Gorongosa National Park? For one, wild dog PUPPIES! This beautiful endangered species was released in Gorongosa last year after a 25 year absence, the first reintroduction of its kind in Mozambique. These predators will likely be crucial for restoring ecological balance to this recovering system. It’s been exciting watching these dogs not only survive but thrive in their new home, producing their first litters of puppies earlier this year! Better yet, a second reintroduction of wild dogs is occurring as we speak. Will YOU be the first person to find a wild dog in our camera trap pics?

Image Credit: Paola Bouley & the Gorongosa Carnivore Project

Another big event in Gorongosa National Park this year was the landfall of Cyclone Idai. In March, one of the worst tropical cyclones on record struck Mozambique, catastrophically impacting the lives and livelihoods of those in these coastal and floodplains areas. Gorongosa played an essential role in mitigating the cyclone damage by absorbing huge quantities of water – which are still being released five months after the actual event. While many camera traps did not survive the floods (!), our researchers are keen to use the data we were able to salvage to start understanding how animal dynamics were affected by this extreme weather event. Help them out by tagging images of “#flood” as you explore our new season of WildCam Gorongosa camera trap data! 

The last image from a drowning camera trap!

Thank you so much for your patience as we’ve amassed this amazing new set of data. Check out WildCam Gorongosa and explore the open floodplains and tropical forests of Gorongosa National Park. We can’t wait to see what exciting new images you discover! For more updates on our new mobile app, enhanced field guides, new published research results, fun peeks “behind the scenes”, and to chat with our researchers, follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Happy classifying!