A bit of a weird question, but since I’ve been brushing through my earlier observations to make sure I didn’t leave any cultivated ones by accident, I got to thinking. If a 100% wild moth/butterfly lays eggs on my potted plants and I then take the hatched larva and raise them, does that make them in…

It’s all based on intent: human deliberately moved the organism vs. hitchhiker, human deliberately watered a plant in a pot vs. it grew as an unwanted weed, human released an exotic animal on purpose vs. it escaped, etc. If you consciously cultivate the plant, it’s cultivated, but a plant growing as…

[image] paul_dennehy: If you consciously cultivate the plant, it’s cultivated, but a plant growing as an unintended consequence of watering another nearby plant is wild. Ah, maybe I have misunderstood? I thought the watering was after the plant was noticed? If the plant just pops up, regardle…

Yes. I would consider a volunteer plant that is later watered/fertilized/caged to prevent predation/etc. to be cultivated. I would also consider the same for caterpillars protected from predators so that they can pupate or a stray animal that a human then feeds/waters/gets vet care for.

What about the mosquito larvae in a bird bath?

I have a plant that appeared in a unused pot, and I only water it to keep the soil alive. I don’t protect it from predation, I don’t fertilize or take any extra care. It’ll be gone when I need the pot, also I wait to see if I can better identify it. Cultivated or wild?

[image] jujulues: I fed until it pupated and hatched captive [image] joeybom: appeared in a specific place on its own, and it (and its ancestors) were not brought there (intentionally or unintentionally) by humans. I disagree on the unintentionally part. Some plants and animals hitch …

[image] quyksilver: My understanding is that if it was unintentionally brought there by humans, it still counts as wild–ie bugs in a canister of catnip I purchased, or a bird that took a ride on a ship. [image] Marie-B: I disagree on the unintentionally part. Some plants and animals hitch…

People may have many definitions of what wild/not wild/cultivated mean to them. But iNat lays out its operational definitions, which focus on whether or not an organism is found in a location because of human intention or not (with care/cultivation being a type of intention): https://help.inaturali…

Thank you, but unless I misunderstand what is written in that link, I don’t see any conflict with what I’ve written. What some people here are suggesting, is that whenever you intentionally interact with an organism, it’s suddenly not wild anymore (like watering a plant or moving a caterpillar from…

I think you may have misunderstood or missed some key elements. The first line of the webpage focuses overridingly on human intention: “Checking captive / cultivated means that the observation is of an organism that exists in the time and place it was observed because humans intended it to be then…

Cultivated status for bugs?

General

Marie-B March 31, 2025, 9:33pm 17

captive

I disagree on the unintentionally part. Some plants and animals hitch a ride on other animals (including humans) and propagate from there. What about the organisms farmed by ants?

Wild, unless you feed them intentionally or move them and keep rearing them.

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Cultivated status for bugs?

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