Gorongosa National Park is a 1,570-square mile protected area in Mozambique. Lion researcher Paola Bouley and her team use motion-detecting trail cameras to learn more about
Gorongosa’s lions. Lions are not the only animal captured by these cameras. The photos provide valuable information on a variety of different animals, including numbers to help estimate populations, behaviors, and interactions with other animals. The public has identified animals and collected data from the photos on a citizen science website called WildCam Gorongosa (www.wildcamgorongosa.org). The WildCam Lab is a part of WildCam Gorongosa where you can view trail camera data on a map, and filter and download the data to investigate scientific questions.
The process of science, termed the scientific method, is iterative and adaptable.
The first step in scientific inquiry typically consists of making observations about the natural world. Observations can inspire questions about phenomena, to gain understanding about how nature works. For scientists to answer a question, it must be testable, meaning that it could be answered by designing an experiment and/or collecting data.
After identifying a testable question, the scientist may form a hypothesis, which is an explanation for the observed phenomenon, based on observations and/or prior scientific knowledge.