Snapshot Serengeti Talk

RE: Obviously PREGNANT: Helpful to TAG in COMMENTS?

  • SarahJenny by SarahJenny

    Hello, I know we don't mark pregnant animals in classifying, but I've had a LOT of VERY pregnant Zebras, Wildebeest, etc., lately and - because the study is multiple years long - I wondered if the Scientists are interested in the pregnancy RATE vs Future Population. (Or any of the numerous reasons to track pregnancy in Wildlife.)

    So, would it be helpful or of interest, for us to mark #PREGNANT in Comments for the Capture? I know its conjecture, but sometimes there is just no question there's a baby in that belly! Plus, if we are mistaken, the Experts could decide which tagged pregnancies are uncertain.

    There's just been SO many lately, it seems a shame to let that valuable piece of information slip through the cracks. Especially if something went wonky with population numbers one year, Pregnancy info might help figure out what happened. Just a thought.

    Thanks!

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  • davidbygott by davidbygott moderator

    The Experts will of course decide, but my take is that it would be hard to record pregnancy reliably and consistently. I certainly can't easily distinguish a pregnant lion or hyena from a well-fed one, except the biggest bulges are probably from dinner rather than babies; nor with elephants or hippos, whose bulk is huge and babies small. It's a bit easier with the ungulates, but even then, only if they are close to camera!

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  • aliburchard by aliburchard scientist, translator

    @SarahJenny -- that's an interesting idea. We've never even considered marking possibly pregnant animals in the photos because, as David points out, it can be incredibly hard to distinguish between a big meal and a baby in some of those bellies. Certainly for the carnivores, the biggest bellies reflect an enormous meal. That being said, it doesn't hurt to tag these things. We're now working on ways to get more information out of images based on the hashtags, so that would be a cool one to have! So please feel free to tag them if you see something you think is pregnant -- would be interesting to see what those photos look like...

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  • SarahJenny by SarahJenny

    Great! Thanks for the responses. I had the same thought about the carnivores and large meals but with the other species, there's some bellies that just could NOT hold that much GRASS! lol! Actually, I got the idea from how many people seemed to get excited by and commented on, what appeared to be a pregnancy and some even track down photos to look for a birth. So I think ppl would be willing to do the tagging.

    For more certainty, I thought I'd tag the animals who are not just pounchy in the underside but are WIDE to the sides below the ribcage.

    If you're serious about this being useful, maybe there could be some simple guidelines and both the #PREGNANT tag and for smaller bellies #MAYBEPREGNANT or something?
    Best,
    Sarah (Gonna go back through some pics and start tagging!)

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  • SarahJenny by SarahJenny

    I had Favorited a bunch I thought might be pregnant and I just went a tagged them all if you want to see how it went. 😃 Let me know if there's anything I can do! Love this Project!

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  • rlb66 by rlb66

    Serengeti females are not pregnant year around. To narrow it down, we would need to known what months we would mostly likely see pregnant females (by species). Then note photo dates. That is, the months that it would be most obvious (for those with a better eye then mine).

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  • SarahJenny by SarahJenny

    Thats a great idea @rlb66xyz!
    I noticed mostly Zebras this time, with similar times of year, and I thought, "Oh, Zebras must be in season." But I didnt even think of the fact that SEASONS could be a way to narrow down the search!! Not to mention be more accurate! This could be the key to organizing WHICH PHOTOS to look for which pregnant species, since the database is searchable by date and species, I assume.

    Maybe photos could be grouped by date/species specifically to view dates/species the number of months AFTER mating season that a specific species would be visibly pregnant. (Since they all have varied gestation times.) Of course that would have to be organized by the SS Project. Or Volunteers if possible.

    But it is still an excellent criteria to look for on our own. Especially since the date/time shows up the same place we go to Tag.

    It also occured to me that there's TONS of Collections and Tagged Captures of Babies. Tying the pregnancies and babies together could yeild some useful information since migrating animals have "genetic" paths they follow generation after generation. At least, I know they do here in the US Northwest. We have a Freeway Overpass in Bellevue, WA that borders the woods and cuts through a Bear path. The Overpass gets shut down by local Police for 2 or 3 days EVERY SUMMER - for decades now - when the Momma Bears bring their new cubs to show them the dangerous cars speeding below. The bears even drop things over the side so the cubs see what happens when the cars HIT something! And the deer around the neighborhood still take their paths even tho part of it is concrete now. The only species that don't pop out of the woods much are the Timber Wolves. But I digress.

    I just meant to suggest, or ask, if its likely that the animals who pass by the camera traps year after year are of the same lineage, travelling "their" ancestral path to food and water? If so, perhaps that's a way you could glean more information from the existing pictures, @aliburchard ?

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  • davidbygott by davidbygott moderator

    Some basic info on reproduction - please correct inaccuracies:

    Birth seasons:

    Many but not all are tied to the seasonal cycle, erratic though this is. In Serengeti the main rain months are Nov-May (heaviest rain Mar-Apr), while dry season is Jun-Oct.

    These species tend to peak in the early rains (Nov-Feb): both gazelles, buffalo, warthog, wildebeest, zebra. The wildebeest have a very tight peak, most calves born during January.

    These species peak in late dry season (say Sep-Oct) - hartebeest, topi, impala. Eland show just a slight peak then.

    These species give birth year-round, but with a general peak during rains: reedbuck, waterbuck, hippo, elephant, giraffe.

    These species are non-seasonal: lion, leopard, cheetah, spotted hyena.

    Gestation:

    Cheetah 3 mo; Leopard, hyena, lion c. 3.5 mo

    Tommy c. 6 mo, Grant & Impala 6.5-7 mo

    Wildebeest, hartebeest, topi, waterbuck: 8-8.5 mo; Eland: 9-9.5 mo

    Buffalo: 11.5 mo, Zebra: 12-13 mo

    Giraffe: 14.5-15 mo, Elephant: 22 mo

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  • SarahJenny by SarahJenny

    Thank you @davidbygott 😃

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  • SarahJenny by SarahJenny in response to davidbygott's comment.

    This is great. Ive been using it to calculate and Im going to make an "at a glance" Calendar in Excell w each month containing the info you provided.

    Seems like, with this info in a Calendar format and perhaps some Example photos of each Species while pregnant, along with the warnings re: large meals in Carnivores, etc., I think the average person could make decent guesses for the Scientists to work with!

    That is, if it is still an area they're considering for getting "more info" from the existing Captures...

    You know what, I'll do my best to make a Calendar w Pics (from the internet) and I'll take a Screenshot and Post it as an Image in this Thread. Maybe it will look simpler that way.

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  • SarahJenny by SarahJenny in response to davidbygott's comment.

    I just found a pregnant lioness! She has budding TEETS! Didnt really think of this before - tho it crossed my mind when I saw the Elephant with teets - an easy way to distinguish between a big meal and a baby is the presence of teets. Unless a leg is in the way, the little points (that get bigger and rounder toward birth) would be visible from almost any angle you could see the abdomen.

    Theres also hip spreading to check for if the pic is from the back. I'd leave it to a Scientist to explain how to recognize that, technically. But to me it kind of looks like the tail isnt wide enough to cover the "crack" and the top of the hipbones look a little more angular/squared because when they spread, they literally change the angle of the bone, just like in human mammals.

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