# Human Observations with Wild/Captive/Introduced/Native statuses **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Created:** [May 27, 2025, 4:49pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/human-observations-with-wild-captive-introduced-native-statuses/65668 "2025-05-27T16:49:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![yayemaster](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/yayemaster/32/12153_2.png) [@yayemaster](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/yayemaster)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 4:49pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/human-observations-with-wild-captive-introduced-native-statuses/65668/1 "2025-05-27T16:49:13Z")
I just noticed this today, but why on [Observations · iNaturalist](https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?captive=false&subview=map&taxon_id=43584&verifiable=any&view=species) are humans marked as “Wild” and considered “Introduced” in the US? It seems wrong for many reasons. Is there a way to remove that? ---
**Author:** ![papernautilus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@papernautilus](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/papernautilus)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 6:20pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/human-observations-with-wild-captive-introduced-native-statuses/65668/2 "2025-05-27T18:20:13Z")
Good question. ---
**Author:** ![DianaStuder](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/dianastuder/32/43358_2.png) [@DianaStuder](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/DianaStuder)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 6:59pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/human-observations-with-wild-captive-introduced-native-statuses/65668/3 "2025-05-27T18:59:25Z")
Flag it on the taxon page. All ‘humans’ are Casual by definition on iNat. ---
**Author:** ![spiphany](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/spiphany/32/31332_2.png) [@spiphany](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/spiphany)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 7:12pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/human-observations-with-wild-captive-introduced-native-statuses/65668/4 "2025-05-27T19:12:07Z")
wild =/= verifiable casual =/= not wild Given that iNat has two possibilities (wild or captive/cultivated), it seems less problematic for humans to be sorted under “wild” than under “captive” (while still remaining casual). I don’t know if it would be possible for them to be treated as neither “wild” nor “captive”, but if it is, I doubt it can be resolved with a flag. I agree that it is inappropriate for humans to be assigned “introduced” status, regardless of where in the world this is. I also don’t think they should be assigned “native” status. Better to not include an establishment means at all. ---
**Author:** ![yayemaster](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/yayemaster/32/12153_2.png) [@yayemaster](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/yayemaster)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 7:38pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/human-observations-with-wild-captive-introduced-native-statuses/65668/5 "2025-05-27T19:38:16Z")
> [@DianaStuder](#): > > Flag it on the taxon page Flagged it. This might need to be done through more than a flag though. You can literally separate “Wild” [Observations · iNaturalist](https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?captive=false&subview=map&taxon_id=43584&verifiable=any) humans and “Captive” [Observations · iNaturalist](https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?captive=true&subview=map&taxon_id=43584&verifiable=any) humans. Grouping human observations into “Wild” and “Captive” is not appropriate on or off Inat, and is dehumanizing. ---
**Author:** ![DianaStuder](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/dianastuder/32/43358_2.png) [@DianaStuder](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/DianaStuder)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 7:42pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/human-observations-with-wild-captive-introduced-native-statuses/65668/6 "2025-05-27T19:42:04Z")
We were asked not to choose Wild or Not Wild for humans. They are all Casual due to iNat’s decision. Introduced or Native should not be an available option. ---
**Author:** ![spiphany](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/spiphany/32/31332_2.png) [@spiphany](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/spiphany)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 7:57pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/human-observations-with-wild-captive-introduced-native-statuses/65668/7 "2025-05-27T19:57:45Z")
Some users have learned that “not wild” makes observations casual and therefore they use it for any observation that they think should not be eligible for RG (duplicates, bad data, etc.). I think this is probably the reason why observations of humans get marked as such – either the users do not realize that observations of humans are always casual, or they use it on observations that have been incorrectly ID’d as something other than humans (for example, artificial flowers) to take them out of “needs ID” before the community ID is human. I doubt it is intended as dehumanizing in most cases, but I agree that it is problematic nonetheless. It seems like it ought to be possible to simply deactivate the DQA button on observations with a community ID of humans, the same way other buttons are deactivated in cases where they do not apply, or the way that there are no applicable annotations for humans. But this would be a task for the programmers and not curators. ---
**Author:** ![cthawley](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/cthawley/32/1445_2.png) [@cthawley](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/cthawley)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 11:13pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/human-observations-with-wild-captive-introduced-native-statuses/65668/8 "2025-05-27T23:13:10Z")
I moved the above posts to a new, separate topic and titled as best as I could since they weren’t directly related to the original thread which focused on human observations in schools. ---
**Author:** ![doctorg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@doctorg](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/doctorg)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 1:22am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/human-observations-with-wild-captive-introduced-native-statuses/65668/9 "2025-05-28T01:22:38Z")
From an anthropological perspective – humans are introduced in the New World, Europe, and Asia, albeit self-introduced and some anthropologists argue we are domesticated, again self-domesticated. ---
**Author:** ![jdmore](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/jdmore/32/1116_2.png) [@jdmore](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/jdmore)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 3:28am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/human-observations-with-wild-captive-introduced-native-statuses/65668/10 "2025-05-28T03:28:44Z")
> [@yayemaster](#): > > Flagged it. Thanks @yayemaster. I left a supporting comment there ([https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/764416](https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/764416)). ---
**Author:** ![sbasalaev](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/sbasalaev/32/47107_2.png) [@sbasalaev](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/sbasalaev)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 6:48am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/human-observations-with-wild-captive-introduced-native-statuses/65668/11 "2025-05-28T06:48:06Z")
Many observations of humans are marked as captive because they are actually observations of manmade objects. One person sees a plant in a pot, marks it not wild and moves on. Another person realizes the plant is actually plastic and identifies it as _Homo sapiens_. ---
**Author:** ![yayemaster](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/yayemaster/32/12153_2.png) [@yayemaster](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/yayemaster)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 7:29pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/human-observations-with-wild-captive-introduced-native-statuses/65668/12 "2025-05-28T19:29:29Z")
[Homo sapiens (Human) from Long Island, Massapequa, NY, US on June 3, 2020 at 04:39 PM by Robert Levy · iNaturalist](https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/48373276) But is it appropriate to call all human observations wild and captive at the same time? ---
**Author:** ![kenvinmeme001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/46a35a/32.png) [@kenvinmeme001](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/kenvinmeme001)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 4:59am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/human-observations-with-wild-captive-introduced-native-statuses/65668/13 "2025-05-29T04:59:40Z")
One person sees a plant in a pot, marks it not wild and moves on. Another person realizes the plant is actually plastic and identifies it as Homo sapiens . ---
**Author:** ![kenvinmeme001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/46a35a/32.png) [@kenvinmeme001](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/kenvinmeme001)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2025, 9:42am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/human-observations-with-wild-captive-introduced-native-statuses/65668/14 "2025-05-30T09:42:30Z")
Another person realizes the plant is actually plastic and identifies it as Homo sapiens .👏 ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/2X/7/7831452cf7f0d653ff1ffd34176334b7ef1b6a17.png) [@system](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2025, 9:42am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/human-observations-with-wild-captive-introduced-native-statuses/65668/15 "2025-07-29T09:42:54Z")
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