Saving endangered species is a high priority, especially when they are
charismatic icons for conservation and provide important ecosystem
services. The Grevy’s zebra is a perfect example of both as zebra movements
provide an early warning system to pastoralist herders that rangelands are
heading to deterioration. While basic research has identified the
ecological reasons for the species’ rapid decline, human attitudes and
policies have been slow to evolve, in part because the actual population
numbers are suspect. Our multi-disciplinary research collaboration of
biologists and computer scientists is armed with new algorithms for
identifying individual zebras from photos, but given that Grevy’s zebras
roam over 25,000 km2 of difficult terrain, the only sure-fire way of
gathering sufficient data was to create a large-scale citizen science
event: the Great Grevy’s Rally. For two days, over 350 members of the
public drove tracks within 45 counting blocks and took over 40,000
pictures. From these images, computer algorithms estimated the national
population at 2350 zebras and showed which counties were gaining or losing
zebras. The images revealed demographically sustainable populations with
30% recruits. Without the joint power of scientists and citizen scientists
working with advanced computer technology, none of this would have been
possible. We present the lessons learned from our multi-disciplinary
combination of advanced technology and citizen science to tackle a short
but intensive wildlife study.