The University Mammal Challenge (UMAC)
November 2021 – March 2022
The 2021-22 University Mammal Challenge (UMAC) will kick off for the sixth year immediately after National Mammal Week, running from 1st November 2021* until 31st March 2022, but, like last year, we’ve had to keep things shaken up for another year to accommodate any Covid-19 restrictions….
In summary: Simply use the Mammal Mapper App as much as possible over the UMAC time-frame to be in with a chance of winning some fantastic prizes!
* Please note the delayed start date of 1st November this year
For more information and to check out the current leaderboard, just keep reading…
UMAC Leaderboard
Cumulative results (Nov-Dec 2021)
| Name | Institution | No. transects |
| Natasha Murwill | Manchester Metropolitan University | 29 |
| Yaz Russell | Plymouth University | 10 |
| Kayleigh Lambert Holmes | University of Reading | 6 |
| Sam Geldard | The Open University | 5 |
| Luke Ives | University of Reading | 2 |
| Name | Institution | No. records |
| Natasha Murwill | Manchester Metropolitan University | 80 |
| Sam Geldard | The Open University | 45 |
| Yaz Russell | Plymouth University | 18 |
| Maddy Morgan | University of the West of England | 6 |
| Kayleigh Lambert Holmes | University of Reading | 6 |
| Luke Ives | University of Reading | 6 |
What is the University Mammal Challenge?
The University Mammal Challenge (UMAC) is the Mammal Society’s annual student competition. Usually, teams of up to five students compete with each other to record the mammals on their university campuses using a variety of survey techniques. However, we’ve had to shake things up a little since last year to ensure it can run in a Covid-19 world. To keep with social distancing, and factor in that many students still might not be on campus, we are running UMAC as a general student competition. Individual students, from any higher education institutions not just universities, can sign up to record mammals from wherever they are in the UK.
As students might not have access to specialist equipment such as bat detectors, small mammal traps, or camera traps this year, we are running UMAC 2021-22 solely through the Mammal Society’s Mammal Mapper App. The app can be downloaded on Android or iOS devices, and allows the user to report either one-off sightings or to report mammal signs and sightings along a recorded transect. The app was designed to survey mammals while out walking and tracks the route taken. This allows the Mammal Society to see where people are looking for mammals, even if they don’t see any! This is really useful information that enables absences to be recorded as well as relative densities to be calculated.
Prizes
At the end of every month, each student’s Mammal Mapper data will be collated and a leaderboard (top of the page) will be updated showing summaries of the most submitted records and transects.
The top three recorders will receive free entry to the 2022 Mammal Society Annual Conference, and there will be other prizes up for grabs too! Last year, prizes included Olympus binoculars, a £50 voucher for Big Wild Thought and a range of excellent books!
How to win
At the end of each 3 month period we will sum up the total number of transects conducted and the total number of records submitted to the app for each student. Each of these categories will be scored separately with the top challengers receiving points. These points will then be summed to give a total score, which will determine the order of the winners. The exact scoring system is to be confirmed, but here is an example:
| Placement | Most transects | Points | Most records | Points |
| 1 | Student A | 10 | Student A | 10 |
| 2 | Student B | 8 | Student C | 8 |
| 3 | Student C | 6 | Student D | 6 |
| 4 | Student D | 4 | Student B | 4 |
| 5 | Student E | 2 | Student E | 2 |
| Placement | Student | Points |
| 1st | A | 20 |
| 2nd | C | 14 |
| 3rd | B | 12 |
Registration
Sounds like something you want to participate in? Simply download the Mammal Mapper App and create an account if you don’t already have one, then sign up!
Good luck and happy mammal spotting!
For updates follow Mammal Society Students on Twitter: @MammSocStudents
To find out more, email the Student Representative, Beth Smith on unichallenge@themammalsociety.org
