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University Mammal Challenge

UMAC is an annual competition where student teams monitor mammals on their campuses, and compete for prizes—all while raising awareness about the importance of protecting UK mammals

UMAC 2024 team the Silwood Spotters.

Quick links:

  1. Sign up for UMAC 2025 here.

  2. Download the UMAC 2025 Handbook here. (coming soon!)

  3. Want to hear about UMAC and other youth opportunities? Join our Youth Opportunities Newsletter here.

With the impacts of biodiversity loss becoming clear, we must do more than just monitor, we need to take actions to protect wildlife too.

What is the University Mammal Challenge?

The University Mammal Challenge (UMAC) is the Mammal Society’s annual competition for teams of up to five students from universities and colleges across the UK. Teams survey mammals using approved methods, gather valuable data, and engage their wider community in conservation efforts.

Whether it’s through recording sightings, running events, or sharing your team’s journey on social media, you’ll contribute to UK mammal conservation while enjoying some friendly competition. With prizes to be won and valuable skills to be gained, it’s a challenge you don’t want to miss!

What’s New for UMAC 2025?

We’re making 2025 bigger and better with:

  • New Weekly Challenges to inspire creativity and earn bonus points.

  • Free access to exclusive training, including mammal tracking webinars and career-focused conservation sessions.

  • Opportunities to test out innovative survey techniques, like camera trapping and acoustic surveys.

Registration opens on 1st December 2024, and the challenge kicks off on 1st February 2025. The finale will coincide with National Mammal Week in April, where the top teams will be celebrated.

How to Register

Form a team of up to 5 students, pick a 1km campus area to survey, and complete the registration form here. Be sure to coordinate with other teams if your university has multiple participants to avoid overlapping survey areas.

For more details about the competition, contact Fiona at education@themammalsociety.org.

UMAC 2024

This year’s UMAC was a huge success!

  • 10 teams participated from universities across the UK.

  • Teams raised £520 for mammal conservation.

  • They hosted 18 events, walked 270 transects, and recorded over 2,000 mammal sightings using Mammal Mapper and Mammal Web!

You can relive the highlights by watching our UMAC 2024 Celebration Webinar or reading student blog posts on our blog page.