Sea Monster Quest
Posted by: Loren Coleman on June 21st, 2008
As part of an EPSRC funded public understanding of science project, the University of St. Andrews has teamed up with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) to produce a website dedicated to the statistics/biology behind whale surveys.
Visitors (aged 16 -21) can play a computer game which takes them on a whale survey and explains how whale population numbers are actually estimated.
The winner of the computer game (and a friend) can win the chance to go on an actual whale survey in the IFAW sail boat Song of the Whale at the end of the summer. The competition closes on the 30th June 2008.
Cryptozoology scholar Charles Paxton is one of the involved scientists. He wants the help of any UK young people who can assist.
“What is the connection to cryptozoology?,” you ask.
Paxton writes:
“You can try to beat my score on the game in the beat the boffin section! It is also useful for 21st century cryptozoologists to be clued up about statistics and this computer game allows younger UK residents to do this with the stunning prize where they have some probability of seeing some of the most little known marine mammals on the planet: beaked whales.
“The success of our project is measured by the number of people visiting the website so we want as much publicity as possible. ”
I then asked, “If one of the lads or lassies wins this prize, what are the statistical chances they might actually see a Sea Monster, a real cryptid, during their winning WhaleQuest trip?”
Paxton’s answer:
“Good question. The answer is their chance of seeing an unknown giant species (my definition of a monster) is, of course, close to, but not equal to, zero as we know such animals are still being discovered. However, their chance of seeing a little known marine giant like a beaked whale could be quite high. Their probability of seeing whales of a variety of species equals 1. It is the chance of a lifetime for the aspiring marine cryptozoologist or biologist.”
If interested, and you live in the UK and are 16 to 21 years old, go to this website.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Now why didn’t they have this kind of thing going on when I was 16?
Oh to be young again!
Darn, I’m 23. I would have loved that 🙁