iNaturalist
inaturalist.org
A community platform for recording and identifying plants, animals and fungi, where photos are reviewed by other naturalists and feed into open biodiversity data.
iNaturalist is a free, non-profit social network for people who like to identify wildlife. You photograph a plant, animal or fungus, upload it, and other members suggest or confirm what it is. The built-in suggestions help beginners, and the community review keeps identifications honest.
Observations that reach a high level of agreement can contribute to open biodiversity datasets used by researchers. That makes it a rare case where casual nature walks produce real scientific data. It works in the browser and through mobile apps, and you need a free account to post observations.
Why it is useful
Upload a photo of something you found and other members help to identify it, which is a good way to learn local species. The observations are shared with scientists, so casual sightings become useful data.
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