Whether you’re trekking through a rainforest or sipping coffee on the street, you’re surrounded by plants and animals. But unless you’re a scientist, you probably can’t identify most of them.
iNaturalist will make things easier. It’s an iOS and Android app that’s a crowdsourced guide to the natural world. It works like this: Snap a photo of a plant or animal that catches your eye. The app will generate suggestions based on what’s in the image and where you are, helping you identify it. Then, share your observations with the iNaturalist community and add to the map of wildlife around the globe.
In addition, your finds are made available to scientists, so you can help out with real research just by snapping photos. Who needs a PhD, anyway?