How iNaturalist app users have fun while aiding science
CBSN
We share our planet with maybe 10 million species of plants, animals, birds, fish, fungi and bugs. And to help identify them, millions of people are using a free phone app. "Currently we have about six million people using the platform every month," said Scott Loarie, the executive director of iNaturalist, a nonprofit.
We share our planet with maybe 10 million species of plants, animals, birds, fish, fungi and bugs. And to help identify them, millions of people are using a free phone app. "Currently we have about six million people using the platform every month," said Scott Loarie, the executive director of iNaturalist, a nonprofit.
Has anyone made a cool discovery using the app? "It happens all the time," Loarie said. "Almost every month we get a new species described.
One of his favorites stories involved someone in the Andes whose cabin was invaded by a weasel: "He grabs his camera. The first-ever photographs of these species, and they happen to be sitting on a toilet in this cabin. I'm very proud to say that #ToiletWeasel was trending on Twitter after that!"
But it turns out that this app has a stealth function: It can share your photos with scientists. "It's not just a photo. It has a date, it has a location," said Loarie. "It turns out that most data for most species on the planet now is coming from this little app."
So far, iNaturalist fans have made 300 million sightings in all 197 countries, providing data on hundreds of thousands of species a year. They let scientists see what's happening to life on Earth.
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