Quark Expeditions®, the world's leading polar expedition company, invited polar-passionate people around the globe to take action for penguin conservation on World Penguin Day on April 25, 2015. By visiting PenguinWatch.org, penguin enthusiasts can become a “citizen scientist” and make a personal contribution toward penguin conservation with a chance to win a Quark 11-day voyage to Antarctica to encounter these tuxedoed birds in their natural habitat.
Help penguins in Antarctica – become a citizen scientist for Penguin Watch
Penguin Watch offers a unique way for anyone to volunteer in assisting penguin research – by tagging penguins in still image data found on PenguinWatch.org.
Volunteers who register on Penguin Watch assist by viewing and tagging adult and chick penguins as well as penguin egg images. By doing so they greatly assist researchers to secure accurate counts at each site, and also train the computer program to increasingly recognize image objects, improving data efficiency over time.
"Penguin Watch allows us to practice the role of an observer near a base, but on a massive scale," Dr. Hart explained. "We leave cameras at multiple sites and obtain simultaneous, highly accurate data from various locations. Our huge Penguin Watch volunteer base helps us extract and interpret that data rapidly and gives volunteers the opportunity to get involved in meaningful research."
