Name the Zoos Map Challenge: US Version

Coelacanth18

Coelacanth18

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10+ year member
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Happy Fourth of July, Americans! Of course, I recognize that what is often a joyous occasion may be less so this year, with the pandemic preventing many places from holding parades, barbecues, and celebrations as usual… therefore, I decided to move up my timeline and get my Name the Zoos Map Challenge: US Version posted in time for the holiday. Even though it is US-themed and meant to give the American members something fun to do while stuck at home, everyone is welcome to participate regardless of nationality :)

For those of you who are not familiar with the challenge, here is how the Map Challenge works. Embedded in this thread is a map of the United States, with white bubbles containing the numbers 1-50. These numbers correspond to zoological facilities (well, almost all of them are zoological in nature ;)) located within the area of that bubble. The map has all 50 states labeled, along with their capitals and major cities; however, note that some of the city names have been partially or entirely obscured by the bubbles.

Now, there are going to be a couple of differences from the UK version. The first difference is a big one; unlike last time, 46 of the 50 the facilities in this challenge are *not* named for the city, county, or state they are located in. I did this because the majority of large and mid-sized zoos and aquaria in the States are named that way: Bronx Zoo, Zoo Miami, Los Angeles Zoo, San Diego Zoo, Seattle Aquarium, South Carolina Aquarium, North Carolina Zoo, Tennessee Aquarium, Little Rock Zoo… you get the picture. I wanted this to be more than just a geography quiz; therefore, the geographic labels are included while also not giving any direct clues to what the facilities are. 4 facilities are exceptions to this rule: two facilities are named for their cities/towns, but both have under 20,000 residents (and the larger one is more often associated with the large city next to it); another has the name of a state in it, but is a lesser-known facility and the name will distinctly not help you place it within the state. The final one is named after a major city… but beware, as this facility is not mainly zoological in nature ;)

The second difference is meant to help you out, as a way of balancing the added challenge above. In the UK challenge, I included hints for a few of the zoos as a fun aside. This time, there will be a hint for every facility on the list. These hints have been randomized, so they are not in order. The hints and the map are the only clues you will be provided.

The rules and timeline will be in the next post; the one following that will have the map and hints, at which point the game can begin.
 
Rules
Let’s go over the rules from the previous challenge again. Please read the rules carefully before starting – or even commenting on – the challenge; they are straightforward, but I want everyone to be familiar with them so the game can run smoothly. Keep in mind that not following these rules may not only result in your ability to participate being revoked, but may partially or entirely ruin the game for others; as such, please read and follow them :)

- Fill out a list in any format you like and send it to me via PM. Do not post your list (or any of the places on your list) on this thread; the reason for this is that I want to avoid members using previously posted lists as a template. This way, everyone has to do their own list independently from scratch.

- Don’t do any research, Google Maps searches, ZooChat or Wikipedia perusing, collaborating with others, etc. This challenge is meant to test your existing knowledge, not your ability to study. The enforcement for this will be the honor system; however, I reserve the right to dispute scores if I have reason to believe they were supplemented by external sources.

- Please avoid naming any US facilities directly in this thread or trying to publicly guess what is on the list, as I will not confirm or deny any of them and it will potentially compromise the results by giving out additional clues. If you think there is a factual error with one of the bubbles or a clue, please PM me about it rather than pointing it out here.

- For bubbles that contain multiple numbers, like 5-6, the order you put them in does not matter; as long as they are the right facilities for that bubble, you will receive full credit for each of them.

- Make sure that you provide enough of the zoo’s name for me to know which one you are referring to (in case, perhaps, there are two with very similar names – free hint! ;))

- I’ve made a couple of revisements to the scoring from last time. First off, in this challenge no credit will be given for a wrong bubble – no matter how close it is to the correct one. Partially this is just to make the scoring more straightforward and transparent; partially, it also reflects the fact that the US is geographically much larger than the UK, and so the bubbles are always going to be many miles apart from each other. Another revisement to the scoring: substituting facilities that aren’t the official answer, but are located in the area of the bubble, will only give you one quarter credit, rather than full credit like last time.

Timeline
As with last time, this challenge will be open for one week; as I am opening it mid-day Saturday, it will close Saturday evening next week. Given time zone differences, I will be flexible with the exact time; if you want to know if your submission will still be accepted, you can ask here or by PM. When the submission period has closed, I will announce (with their permission) the top finisher(s) and show some basic stats about how people performed, top facilities guessed or not guessed, etc. Only the first place winner’s results will have their score posted here (again, with their permission); all other individual results will be PM'ed to the relevant user, and only shown here or among the aggregate data anonymously. If you don’t want your name listed by your score if you end up in the top 3, just note that when you send me your list :)

Until then, feel free to use this thread to ask questions, request clarifications, or provide feedback if said feedback does not violate the posting rules I established above (if it does, PM me). In particular, let me know if the map and numbers are not readable – I think it should be okay, but if people have trouble I can make a modified version to supplement.
 
And now, without further ado, the map:

Name the Zoos Map Challenge: US Version

Name the Zoos Map Challenge: US Version


And the hints:

- one of the newest facilities on this list, this rural zoo only opened in 1999
- the only tribally owned zoo in the country, which labels its exhibits in the tribe’s native language
- this zoo-aquarium pair both make reference to the lake their city sits on
- this museum-aquarium combo also serves as its state’s only public aquarium
- one of America’s two community college zoos and a world-renowned bat conservation and breeding center are located in the same town
- this zoo’s attendance numbers have been falling in recent years, and are nowhere near what they were a century ago when it was free
- the second-oldest public aquarium in the country opened before the state it’s located in was even a state
- this zoo is known for its steep elevation, breeding record with giraffe, and for a brand-new, much-praised new exhibit complex
- only zoo in the US that is located at a K-12 school
- the only free public aquarium in the country
- a coastal tourist destination and an architectural ode to Ancient Egypt ;)
- there are two facilities on here that almost have the same name, and which are routinely confused with each other ;)
- named for and financed by members of the family who founded J.C. Penney, this zoo is well-known on ZC for its holdover collection of unusual animals like bearded pigs, pileated gibbons and rare duikers
- much like the WCS in New York, this organization named for a famous naturalist is responsible for the zoo, aquarium, and two other facilities in a single city. NOTE: only 1 of the 2 “other facilities” need to be provided
- once held a white-winged vampire bat, still home to one of the country’s few breeding herds of Thorold’s white-lipped deer
- this misleadingly named zoo became famous on social media for its blue Jello-devouring hippopotamus
- named for where it sits adjacent a body of water, this zoo is pretty southerly and humid for Antarctic penguins and Amur tiger but it makes it work
- 2 major zoos and 1 major aquarium in the same place – a great deal, if you can brave the wind ;)
- one of only two facilities to hold Steller sea lion and one of a handful to hold belugas
- this aquarium that opened in its current location in 2014 – and this specialty facility that opened in 1938 – are located in the same urban area whose major zoo I left off the list
- with one of the world’s largest orchid collections – is unfortunately also remembered as the site of a recent extinction
- the 2 out of 5 zoos that *aren’t* named for their respective borough in this major city
- this free zoo holds one of only two successful breeding pairs of emperor tamarin in the country
- a patriotic zoo, in a town long associated with chocolate
- a large rural conservation center that is not only well-known for breeding hoofstock and carnivores, but also amphibians and beetles
- one of several free zoos in the Midwest, located in a small town but still held elephants until 2015
- one of the world’s largest waterfowl collections – the American Slimbridge, if you will :p
- home to the only sitatunga walkthrough in the country
- 250-300 strepsirrhine primates live at this tour-based research facility, and it was once home to the world’s only talking lemur ;)
- one of the only zoos left in the country breeding Japanese Serow
- perhaps the least well-known zoological facility in its urban area, this aquarium is nevertheless operated by one of the most renowned marine biology institutes in the world
- DISCO HIPPOS!
- named for the large trees surrounding the zoo and its picturesque coastal town
- three facilities in one urban area – one a leader in tree kangaroo conservation, another has two aquariums, and the third has a tram tour through 435 acres of free-range space for native animals
- this aquarium inside a casino has one of the country’s largest tanks, a shipwreck that once held a great hammerhead shark
- half of this facility is a natural history museum with taxidermy specimens
- this rural conservation center is one of the most successful cheetah breeding centers in the world
- this large reptile park is very close to a famous American landmark
- despite its name, this bird-focused facility is not located in or close to Washington DC

And... game on!
 
Hmm, interesting. I'll need to think on some of these a little more but a good many were easy enough. I think I can be pretty close overall. :)
 
@Coelacanth18 If we have the name matched with the hint and know the state, are we allowed to double check we're putting it on the right point if we're not sure?
 
Less than 24 hours and I've already received as many responses as I did for the entire UK challenge... a rousing success! Submissions will still be accepted through next Saturday as originally outlined, but thanks to early participation I can safely say that this time the deadline will not have to be extended. That means you can all bet on not having to wait any longer for your results than I said initially - hooray! :p

-------------------------

There haven't been many issues so far, so I'll just remind anyone who hasn't submitted yet of a couple things:

- Make sure to read all of my intro post and rules first. I know it's a lot of text, but trust me when I say that I whittled it down to everything that's important for you to know. Some of what's in there is meant to help you...

- Speaking of what's meant to help you, read and think about the hints carefully. These clues aren't just there as neat factoids - they are a focal point of this challenge. Trying to guess places on geography alone will only get you so far; while some of the clues are ambiguous or require prior knowledge, a lot of them are direct hints at the name or location of the facility ;)
 
Pleasantly surprised to still have submissions coming in, and others who still plan to do so. I am making a minor correction to one of the clues:

Coelacanth18 said:
- once held a white-winged vampire bat, still home to one of the country’s few breeding herds of Thorold’s white-lipped deer
Click to expand...

After conferring with members familiar with this facility, it seems as though the bat is still there, rather than a former holding. Given that it is the only zoological facility in the country associated with that species, I don't expect this inaccuracy to have any impact on the competition - but for the sake of clarity and accuracy I've noted it here. If you feel your score was impacted by this change, PM me and I will decide how it should be rectified.
 
Today (Saturday June 11) is the last day to submit your answers for this challenge. As I said, my submission time is flexible to account for different time zones and my own preferences - but if you want to be certain about your submission being counted, I'd get it to me within the next 18 hours. My plan is to spend Sunday re-checking scores for all of the submissions and writing up the analysis, then on Monday posting the overall results and sending individual scores.
 
Thanks to everybody for participating. I got a grand total of 10 submissions – close to double the number I got from the previous UK challenge and with most of them submitted in the first 2-3 days. The winner of the US Zoo Map Challenge is @TinoPup, who correctly guessed 48 out of 50 answers and ended up with a total score of 48.25/50. Congratulations to our winner :) As this challenge is more about testing your own knowledge than competing, I will not be posting any ranks or standings. I hope that no matter what your score ultimately ends up being, you all enjoyed participating :) I plan to get everyone's individual scores out to them by the end of today; they are completed but I still need to add some notes and format them.

Before I get to the answers and analysis, I have an announcement to make: I mistook #22 for another facility and placed it in the wrong location; the correct location should have been in the outskirts of Austin, Texas, rather than near the Gulf Coast. A further explanation of this will be provided; as far as I can tell, everyone who was affected by my mistake has been given full credit for their answer.

But let’s cut to the chase: here are all of the answers and the clues that they match with. They are listed in numerical order, with the clue coming first and the answer second:

Clue: this zoo’s attendance numbers have been falling in recent years, and are nowhere near what they were a century ago when it was free
Answer: #1 Franklin Park Zoo (substitutions accepted: Capron Park Zoo, Stone Zoo, Roger Williams Park Zoo, New England Aquarium)

Clue: one of only two facilities to hold Steller sea lion and one of a handful to hold belugas
Additional Clue: “two facilities are named for their cities/towns, but both have under 20,000 residents…”
Answer: #2 Mystic Aquarium

Clue: only zoo in the US that is located at a K-12 school
Answer: #3 Trevor Zoo at Millbrook School (substitutions accepted: Livingston Ripley Waterfowl Conservancy)

Clue: is home to a white-winged vampire bat and one of the country’s few breeding herds of Thorold’s white-lipped deer
Answer: #4 Rosamond Gifford Zoo

Clue: the 2 out of 5 zoos that *aren’t* named for their respective borough in this major city
Answer: #5 Central Park Zoo and #6 Prospect Park Zoo (substitutions accepted: New York Aquarium, Bronx Zoo)

Clue: DISCO HIPPOS!
Answer: #7 Adventure Aquarium

Clue: a patriotic zoo, in a town long associated with chocolate [POST NOTE: the town is Hershey, Pennsylvania – home of the Hershey Company, which also founded and controls the zoo)
Answer: #8 Zooamerica

Clue: despite its name, this bird-focused facility is not located in or close to Washington DC [POST NOTE: it’s a few hours away in Pittsburgh and is not associated with the federal government at all]
Answer: #9 National Aviary

Clue: a large rural conservation center that is not only well-known for breeding hoofstock and carnivores, but also amphibians and beetles
Answer: #10 The Wilds

Clue: one of the world’s largest waterfowl collections – the American Slimbridge, if you will
Answer: #11 Sylvan Heights Bird Park

Clue: 250-300 strepsirrhine primates live at this tour-based research facility, and it was once home to the world’s only talking lemur [POST NOTE: that lemur and the name of his show was Zoboomafoo, and the show was filmed on-location at this facility]
Answer: #12 Duke Lemur Center

Clue: named for where it sits adjacent a body of water, this zoo is pretty southerly and humid for Antarctic penguins and Amur tiger but it makes it work
Answer: #13 Riverbanks Zoo

Clue: has one of the world’s largest orchid collections – is unfortunately also remembered as the site of a recent extinction [POST NOTE: the species that went extinct here was the Rabbs’ fringe-limbed tree frog; the second-to-last one died at Zoo Atlanta]
Additional Clues: “These numbers correspond to zoological facilities (well, almost all of them are zoological in nature…” and “the final one is named after a major city… but beware, as this facility is not mainly zoological in nature”
#14 Atlanta Botanical Garden (substitutions accepted: Zoo Atlanta)

Clue: one of America’s two community college zoos and a world-renowned bat conservation and breeding center are located in the same town [POST NOTE: the town is Gainesville, Florida – home of the University of Florida]
Answer: #15 Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo and #16 Lubee Bat Conservancy (substitutions accepted: Carson Springs Wildlife Conservation Foundation)

Clue: much like the WCS in New York, this organization named for a famous naturalist is responsible for the zoo, aquarium, and two other facilities in a single city. NOTE: only 1 of the 2 “other facilities” need to be provided
Answer: #17 Audubon Zoo, #18 Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, and #19 Audubon Insectarium OR Freeport-McMoran Audubon Species Survival Center

Clue: this rural conservation center is one of the most successful cheetah breeding centers in the world
Answer: #20 Fossil Rim Wildlife Center

Clue: a coastal tourist destination and an architectural ode to Ancient Egypt [POST NOTE: … in that the facility consists of three glass pyramids]
Answer: #21 Moody Gardens (substitutions accepted: Crocodile Encounter)

Clue: this misleadingly named zoo became famous on social media for its blue Jello-devouring hippopotamus [POST NOTE: refer to beginning of this post. I made an error with this clue. For apparently several years now I have been mistaking the Texas Zoo for the Capital of Texas Zoo; as such, the clue was referring to the latter but the bubble is actually the location for the former. The Capital of Texas Zoo is indeed located in the outskirts of Texas’s capital city, Austin, so it is *not* misleadingly named. The Jello-eating hippo is definitely true, though… anyway, a few people correctly guessed Capital of Texas Zoo while one person guessed the Texas Zoo; all of these people have been given full credit. If you missed this clue because you didn’t see the bubble in Austin, feel free to give yourself an extra point for it ]
Additional Clue that in retrospect was also wrong: “another has the name of a state in it, but is a lesser-known facility and the name will distinctly not help you place it within the state”
Answer: #22 Capital of Texas Zoo

Clue: named for and financed by members of the family who founded J.C. Penney, this zoo is well-known on ZC for its holdover collection of unusual animals like bearded pigs, pileated gibbons and rare duikers
Answer: #23 Gladys Porter Zoo

Clue: home to the only sitatunga walkthrough in the country
Answer: #24 Mesker Park Zoo

Clue: 2 major zoos and 1 major aquarium in the same place – a great deal, if you can brave the wind
Additional Clue: two facilities are named for their cities/towns, but both have under 20,000 residents (and the larger one is more often associated with the large city next to it) [POST NOTE: the town is Brookfield, Illinois]
Answer: #25 Brookfield Zoo, #26 Lincoln Park Zoo, and #27 Shedd Aquarium

Clue: this museum-aquarium combo also serves as its state’s only public aquarium
Answer: #28 National Mississippi River Musem & Aquarium

Clue: this free zoo holds one of only two successful breeding pairs of emperor tamarin in the country [POST NOTE: the other is Racine Zoo in Wisconsin]
Answer: #29 Como Park Zoo (substitutions accepted: Minnesota Zoo)

Clue: this zoo-aquarium pair both make reference to the lake their city sits on
Answers: #30 Lake Superior Zoo and #31 Great Lakes Aquarium

Clue: one of the only zoos left in the country breeding Japanese Serow
Answer: #32 Roosevelt Park Zoo

Clue: half of this facility is a natural history museum with taxidermy specimens
Answer: #33 Great Plains Zoo

Clue: this large reptile park is very close to a famous American landmark [POST NOTE: that landmark is Mount Rushmore in South Dakota]
Answer: #34 Reptile Gardens

Clue: one of the newest facilities on this list, this rural zoo only opened in 1999
Answer: #35 Rolling Hills Zoo

Clue: one of several free zoos in the Midwest, located in a small town but still held elephants until 2015
Answer: #36 Lee Richardson Zoo

Clue: this zoo is known for its steep elevation, breeding record with giraffe, and for a brand-new, much-praised new exhibit complex
Answer: #37 Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

Clue: there are two facilities on here that almost have the same name, and which are routinely confused with each other
Additional Clue: “Make sure that you provide enough of the zoo’s name for me to know which one you are referring to (in case, perhaps, there are two with very similar names – free hint!)”
First Answer: #38 Living Desert Zoo & Gardens State Park

Clue: the only tribally owned zoo in the country, which labels its exhibits in the tribe’s native language
Answer: #39 Navajo Nation Zoo

Clue: this aquarium that opened in its current location in 2014 – and this specialty facility that opened in 1938 – are located in the same urban area whose major zoo I left off the list
Answer: #40 Loveland Living Planet Aquarium and #41 Tracy Aviary (substitutions accepted: Hogle Zoo)

Clue: this aquarium inside a casino has one of the country’s largest tanks, a shipwreck that once held a great hammerhead shark
Answer: #42 Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay

Clue: there are two facilities on here that almost have the same name, and which are routinely confused with each other
Additional Clue: “Make sure that you provide enough of the zoo’s name for me to know which one you are referring to (in case, perhaps, there are two with very similar names – free hint!)”
Second Answer: #43 The Living Desert

Clue: perhaps the least well-known zoological facility in its urban area, this aquarium is nevertheless operated by one of the most renowned marine biology institutes in the world
Answer: #44 Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institute of Oceanography (substitutions accepted: SeaWorld San Diego)

Clue: the only free public aquarium in the country
Answer: #45 Cabrillo Marine Aquarium (substitutions accepted: Aquarium of the Pacific)

Clue: named for the large trees surrounding the zoo and its picturesque coastal town
Answer: #46 Sequoia Park Zoo

Clue: three facilities in one urban area – one a leader in tree kangaroo conservation, another has two aquariums, and the third has a tram tour through 435 acres of free-range space for native animals
Answer: #47 Woodland Park Zoo, #48 Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium (should be plural now, I guess :P), and #49 Northwest Trek Wildlife Park (substitutions accepted: Seattle Aquarium)

Clue: the second-oldest public aquarium in the country opened before the state it’s located in was even a state
Answer: #50 Waikiki Aquarium
 
(continued...)

Before substitution credits, the average score was 31 (the median scores were close to that as well), which is a rate of just over 60% correct; the average gain from substitution credits was slightly below 0.75 points, so roughly 3 quarter-point substitutions per person. In my opinion this largely validated my decision to make substitutions worth only quarter-points instead of half-points or (as in the UK challenge) full points. The point was to give people a slight boost for knowing their geography well even if the clues stumped them, but not boost them enough to significantly change the scores – and this is exactly what the outcome was.

A note on substitution credits: in an effort to standardize my scoring on that, the maximum distance for giving substitution credits to incorrect answers placed correctly was 40 mi (~64 km). If that seems large, you’re probably from Europe :p just kidding. If that seems large, keep in mind that some American urban areas have dimensions even larger than that. If that seems too restrictive, keep in mind that some incorrect answers that were over 40 miles were very clearly in the wrong place or wrong urban area, and giving them credit I think would have been too generous. Regardless of whether you agree or disagree in either direction, it would not have affected who the winner was and rankings of everyone else are, for all intents and purposes, non-existent :p but feel free to provide feedback on that, since I’m open to other perspectives.

Audubon Zoo and the Chicago trio (Lincoln Park Zoo, Brookfield Zoo, and Shedd Aquarium) were the ones that every single participant got correct; additionally, everyone *eventually* guessed Cheyenne Mountain Zoo correctly, although one only realized after submission :P Meanwhile, there was one that no participant got correct: #35, Rolling Hills Zoo. I expected that to be a stumper, as despite having some notable flagship species it is rarely discussed on this site. A couple individuals guessed Tanganyika Wildlife Park for it, which from the clue was a very good guess – but TWP opened even later (in 2008) and is located almost 90 miles south in the outskirts of Wichita.

Some other commonly guessed and correct answers were: Prospect Park Zoo, Gladys Porter Zoo, Woodland Park Zoo, Point Defiance Zoo, Northwest Trek, Mystic Aquarium, The Wilds, National Aviary, Adventure Aquarium, the Audubon Zoo and Aquarium (the specialty facility was a bit harder for people – the majority did guess the Insectarium, nobody guessed the SSC), and Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay. Those rarely guessed and correct were: Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, Roosevelt Park Zoo, National Mississippi River Musem & Aquarium, Atlanta Botanical Garden, Lee Richardson Zoo, and Navajo Nation Zoo.

Some interesting notes:

- Many people also guessed Zoo Atlanta, which I anticipated. Read the intro clue again; only one facility has the name of a major city in it, and that facility is primarily not zoological. Hence, Atlanta Botanical Gardens ;)

- More people guessed Prospect Park than Central Park, which I found really surprising? Given that Central Park is presumably one of the most famous parks in the country, the zoo is rather famous, and it seems obvious that it’s not named after a city or anything of that nature, I intended PPZ to be the harder answer to get (some people guessed Bronx Zoo – but Bronx is one of the boroughs in NYC, and I said these two were not named after their respective borough)

- The zoo-aquarium duo in Duluth, Minnesota threw a lot of people off… several people matched up the clue correctly, but didn’t know the respective names of the two places: Great Lakes Aquarium and Lake Superior Zoo

- Utah threw a lot of people off too; I think Hogle Zoo might have been the most guessed place that was incorrect (it’s called Utah’s Hogle Zoo, btw ;)); one or two people figured out there was an aquarium there, but didn’t know the name of it. To be fair, it’s not the most intuitive name: Loveland Living Planet Aquarium (named for the primary donor family, and for… a living planet, I guess)

So that's a wrap. As I said before, feel free to provide comments, suggestions, feedback... praise :p In seriousness, I think this went well and it makes me hopeful for doing similar challenges in the future - suggestions for which I'm also open to :)
 
I didn't do too bad, and I observe I had a good number of the right facilities in mind, but I misplaced several of them. I knew the ballpark but couldn't hit the target. :p
 
Great Argus said:
I didn't do too bad, and I observe I had a good number of the right facilities in mind, but I misplaced several of them. I knew the ballpark but couldn't hit the target. :p
Click to expand...

You weren't the only one :p It was pretty common for people to get the right clue but not the right location. Had I more forethought, I could have split the difference and given 1 point for getting the clue right and 1 point for getting the right location... but since this is a mapping challenge and I didn't know how helpful my clues were, I didn't go that direction.
 
Too bad I stumbled on this so late! I would've joined! I actually completed my answers before I realized it was done. I would not have beat @TinoPup though as I only got 41/50. I almost guessed Rolling Hills for that stumper, but went with Sunset Zoo in Manhattan instead, so I wouldn't have helped our average on that one!
 
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