This slideshow features the various projects within the Virtual Museum of the Animal Demography Unit, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town. The Virtual Museum (VM) provides the platform for citizen scientists to contribute to biodiversity projects. Your photos can count for biodiversity conservation!

1. The Projects of the Virtual Museum
Megan Loftie-Eaton – Animal Demography Unit – University of Cape Town

2. This slideshow features the various projects within the Virtual
Museum of the Animal Demography Unit, Department of
Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town.
The Virtual Museum (VM) provides the platform for citizen
scientists to contribute to biodiversity projects. Your photos can
count for biodiversity conservation!

3. PHOWN – PHotos Of Weaver Nests
PHOWN is a conservation
project aimed at determining
the distribution of colonies or
nests of all weaver species
globally. Counting weaver nests
and taking photos allows
monitoring of changes in
weaver breeding effort. Many
weavers are common while
some weaver species are
threatened; this project
provides an easy way of
monitoring them.

4. PHOWN record 4142 – submitted to PHOWN by Geoff Nichols
Village Weavers

5. MammalMAP
the Mammal Atlas of Africa
The objective of MammalMAP
is to generate 21st century
distribution maps of Africa’s
mammals. MammalMAP
consists of digital photographic
records of mammals along with
accurate geographical
coordinates of where the
pictures were taken.

6. MammalMAP record 7651 – submitted to MammalMAP by Nick Hart
African Wild Dog

7. LepiMAP
the Atlas of African Lepidoptera
LepiMAP is the continuation of
SABCA, the Southern African
Butterfly Conservation
Assessment. LepiMAP is a
project aimed at determining
the distribution and
conservation priorities of
butterflies and moths on the
African continent.

8. LepiMAP record 37452 – submitted to LepiMAP by Bertie Brink
African Pansy

9. ReptileMAP
Reptile mapping project
ReptileMAP is the continuation
of the Southern African Reptile
Conservation Assessment
(SARCA). It aims to improve our
understanding of the diversity
and distribution of reptiles in
South Africa, Lesotho and
Swaziland, and thereby make an
improvement in the
conservation status of these
animals.

10. ReptileMAP record 150744 – submitted to ReptileMAP
by Luke Verburgt
Rhombic Egg-eater

11. SpiderMAP
Baboon Spider Atlas of Africa
SpiderMAP aims to document the
distribution patterns of the Baboon
spiders belonging to the family
Theraphosidae.
Photos of other spiders are also
accepted but these will only be
identified to family level.
All spider records will be submitted
to the South African National Survey
of Arachnida (SANSA)

12. SpiderMAP record 1203 – submitted to SpiderMAP
by John Wilkinson
Ceratogyrus darlingi

13. FrogMAP
Amphibian mapping project
FrogMAP is the continuation of
the Southern African Frog Atlas
Project (SAFAP). It aims to build
on the distribution data
collected during seven years of
fieldwork (1996-2003), plus
earlier data compiled from
museum records, private
collections, the literature and
conservation organizations.

14. FrogMAP record 613 – submitted to FrogMAP by Jason Boyce
Brown-backed Tree Frog

15. PHOWN – PHotos Of Weaver NestsScorpionMAP
Scorpion Atlas of Africa
Images of all African Scorpions
are welcomed and all contribute
equally towards a better
understanding of the
distribution patterns of these
fascinating creatures. The
distribution of most species is
poorly known and in most cases
it is based on historical records.
We need your photos to help
map these distributions!

16. ScorpionMAP record 316 – submitted to ScorpionMAP
by Richard Jessnitz
Parabuthus raudus

17. BOP – Birds with Odd Plumages
Birds with all sorts of unusual
plumage variations are
observed from time to time.
BOP aims to provide a place
where the photographs can be
curated into one database. This
will provide the opportunity to
look for patterns. Do certain
species have abnormal plumage
more frequently than others?
Do unusual plumage patterns
occur more in some places than
in others?

18. BOP record 61 – submitted to BOP by Chris Krog
African Pied Wagtail

19. EchinoMAP
Atlas of African Echinoderma
Echinoderms (starfish, sea-
urchins, brittle-stars and their
kin) are conspicuous marine
animals, frequently
photographed by divers.
EchinoMAP aims to collate all
available images of echinoderms
from South Africa, thus building
up a comprehensive
identification guide, as well as
mapping the ranges of each
species.

20. EchinoMAP record 738 – submitted to EchinoMAP by George Branch
Marthasterias glacialis

21. OdonataMAP
Odonata Atlas of Southern Africa
OdonataMAP is a Virtual
Museum project aiming to:
(1) map the current
distribution of the insect
Order Odonata, i.e.
Dragonflies and Damselflies,
occurring in southern Africa;
and (2) to serve as a
repository of all existing
distribution data for this
group in the geographic
extent of the project

22. OdonataMAP record 9205 – submitted to OdonataMAP by Wil Leurs
Two-Striped Skimmer

23. ViTH – Virtual Tree Herbarium
Southern African Atlas of
trees. Most trees can be
identified with photographs
of their bark, their leaves and
their flowers and/or fruit. Try
to take pictures of all of
these, from the same tree.
The Virtual Museum allows
you to upload a maximum of
three images per record.

24. Star-chestnut
ViTH record 242 – submitted to ViTH by Chloe Reynolds