Wildlife Spotting

For the last couple of days, I've been fascinated by the Wildlife Spotting website. It is set up to allow members of the public to assist with scientific research into wildlife. You look at photos and identify what animal is in the photo, or if there is no animal at all. The photos are from 6 different research projects, all round the country.

Here are a couple of examples I've seen. Is this a bettong, a bandicoot, or a rat in far north Queensland?

Bandicoot, mouse or rat on the outskirts of Melbourne?

If you aren't sure, there are photos and extra information you can consult. And if you get it wrong it doesn't matter too much, as each photo is looked at by 5 different people, and the answers compared. If they are all different, the researchers know to take a look for themselves!

Lots of the photos don't show anything at all, which while it is disappointing, saves the researchers time because they know which photos they don't have to look at. The Tasmanian photos in particular rarely show an animal. So it is a bit exciting when this happens:

Tasmanian devil!