I’ve been kind of obsessed with going through projects lately! I just wish they had a way to filter search results, like searching the name only, excluding limited time events, etc… Anyway, here are some of my faves that I don’t think I’ve seen mentioned here yet. A lot of them are unknown and underutilized!
Pretty:
- Abstract Beauty
- Nature / Design Interface
- Metalloids - I was shocked that this was the only project I could find about iridescence. And it’s also about metallic textures.
- Colourful Observations
Cool:
- Animal Eye-Shine and Animals at Night. Similar concepts!
- Bioluminescent Organisms - GLOWY CRITTERS!
- Black Water - Critters in the dark depths of the open ocean. Also: Deep-sea fishes.
- Camouflage and Mimicry and Camouflaged Animals. And Mimicry Gallery.
- Casually Cool - I really like the idea of this one. It’s just for highlighting casual observations that you think are cool. Such as creatures that are…
- …Extinct in the Wild, which will always be marked “casual” on account of being captive or cultivated. There are other projects but this is a traditional project so you can add ones that the others are missing from their lists.
- Last Photos: Observations Of Extinct Organisms - More sadness.
- Reintroductions - Putting them back out there.
- Cave Dwellers / Cave Wildlife / Subterranean Biology Project, and, more specifically: Cave and Subterranean Fishes of the World & Decapoda Subterranea.
- Cryptobiotic soil
- Lightning Strikes - Trees with lightning damage. And one observation of some poor sheep or something. But mostly trees with neat scars!
- Power Line Pruning
- UV fluorescent organisms
- Undescribed Species on iNaturalist / Undescribed Species and Taxa
*Flightless Birds of the World
PLANTS:
They get their own category.
- Arbres Exceptionnels / Outstanding trees - That’s my jam right there.
- Unique Trees
- old trees - Yes, please.
- Holes made before the leaf (or flower) opened.
- Lacey (skeletonized) leaves
- Lots of carnivorous plant projects! Carnivorous Plants and Sphagnum Moss / Carnivorous Plants of the World / Carnivorous Plants Worldwide.
- Vampire Plants of California That Prey on Plants (Holoparasites)
- Mycoheterotrophic Plants of the World or Myco-heterotrophic plants of the World - Plants living off fungus that lives off plants!
- Myrmecophytes of the World - Ant plants! That’s just fascinating.
- Plant vivipary - Seeds sprouting in pods and stuff. These kids think they’re so grown up.
- Seedlings of the world! & Seedling Catalogue. Learn what to pull ASAP.
- Seeds of the world! for when you forget what you’ve stored away.
- Variegated Wild Plants
- Weird places
- Plants photographed from far away
- Painful Plants of the United States
- Trees Eating Things
- Virtual herbarium
(Subjectively) Funny:
- Animals In Places They Shouldn’t Be - So far lighthearted and fun from what I’ve seen.
- Animals that Can cause pain - That odd capitalization choice and the description, “Discover the cool and really painful animals of the whole world”. Also taught me that a lot of animals can hurt you that I didn’t know about! The list is definitely not complete though. But the person who made it also has projects about most painful stings and creatures that they find disgusting.
- Debatably an Organism - “The worst of the worst. Submit your crappy photos of taxa that can still be identified.”
- Screenshots, Snaps, and other Silly images - More incredible wildlife photography.
- Cursed Nature - This might be THE favorite.
- Large and In Charge - Absolute units. I’m enjoying adding non-animals to it. Some thicc plants out there.
- Mistakes have been made - I’m sorry for laughing at some of these because a few of them could have been bad. But they weren’t! And they show that venomous animals aren’t out to get anybody.
- People Gripping Animals Like They Owe Em Money - It’s like these life forms aren’t tame or something? This wins funniest title, hands down.
- Steves of the World - Not as funny as Geralds. Birds missing tailfeathers.
- UFOs - Unidentified Flying Organisms
- Organisms Celebrating Holidays
More Niche, Regional, etc:
- Bald Moths - What’s up with that?
- Big Wall Botany - Plants on Yosemite Valley’s walls and cliffs.
- Biodiversity of U.S. National Monuments - Same reason as the National Parks ones.
- Domesticated Biodiversity Project - For interesting observations of domesticated species.
- Epiphytes of Honolulu bus stops - Love it.
- Hot springs - Add your observations of critters at hot springs.
- Invisible Insects - When you’re taking a photo of a plant and you don’t even notice the bug in it!
- Life in Storm Drains
- Radioecological Reserves Around the World
- Taxidermy/Mounted/Preserved Specimens