We’d like to take a minute to tel you about an awesome international project that is going on via an app on your phone! iNaturalist is a joint initiative of the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society and they want you to help contribute to science.
All you have to do is observe. Every observation you make using the app will contribute to biodiversity science, from the rarest butterfly to the most common backyard weed. Amazing!
As you can see from this map taken from the iNaturalist website (click to view full screen), there are already people using the app in the UAE, but we’re sure there are many more plants and animals to find.
Just download the app, go out for a walk and get spotting. When you take a picture of a plant or animal it gives you some suggestions for identification, but don’t worry, your photo is then seen by experts who can identify it properly, so you’ll get to learn about the things you find too.
So why not give it a try and give biodiversity science a helping hand! You can download the Android app from Google Play and the Apple version from the App Store, or head over to the iNaturalist website for more details www.inaturalist.org
Here’s a little video from them to get you started:
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