Predation events

General
1

Is there a way of posting sequencial observations on iNat, such as predation events, so as to represent the activity accurately?

2

As a single observation with photographs in chronological order?

3

You can also create a video (if you took a video), host it on an external platform, and link to it in a comment on the observation

4

You can post a sequence of photos in one observation. I also recommend duplicating the observation so you have one for the predator species and one for the prey species; just be sure to leave a comment specifying which observation is for which individual. You can use observation fields like “Eating (Interaction):” (with the url of the prey observation in the predator’s observation fields) to link the two.

5

Welcome to the community! To be clear, you can make two observations with properly sequenced photos. Also, if your sequenced photos were from significantly different times, you would want to make a new observation.

Because iNaturalist observations are fundamentally tied to a single taxon, trying to force both organisms into one entry creates identification conflicts. If you specify which one the observation is for without adding another one, the other species is missing out on worthwhile documentation.

  • Observation A (The Predator): Upload your photos or video showing the predator. Set the identification focus to the predator’s species.
  • Observation B (The Prey): Create a second entry using the same photos, but set the identification focus to the prey species.

You can then link them together:

  1. Go to the web version of iNaturalist (or the desktop site on your phone’s browser).
  2. Scroll down to the Observation Fields section on the right side of the page.
  3. Search for the field named Linked Observation.
  4. Copy the URL of Observation B and paste it into the field on Observation A. Do the same in reverse to create a bi-directional link.

If you want to make it even more clear and sequenced:

On the Predator’s entry, search for and add the field Eating (taxon) or Preying on. Type in the scientific name of the prey. On the Prey’s entry, add the field Eaten by or Interaction->Preyed upon by. Type in the name of the predator.

Also, projects exist you can add it to and look through to see what other users do. This is also great and related to iNat observations, whoever the maker is, he is a genius.

6

That link points to the Who Eats Whom project. Here’s one of my observations in that project, showing a false widow eating a marble bug: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/342469665 . If you ask whoeatswhom.org who eats Halyomorpha halys, you’ll get the answer Steatoda triangulosa and a link to the observation.

7

Thanks, cs16-levi below has just outlined exactly how to do this, I shall be following those instructions as confusion between the two species involved whilst keeping them linked was my primary concern in asking, having seen this occur several times inadvertantly on peoples observations.

8

Thanks for the example phma, I shall add to project : )