A big draw for new participatory scientists is that their participation may lead to new discoveries. I’m curious what exciting discoveries you’ve seen or experienced on iNaturalist.
Similar threads for “success stories” have been made, but I’m looking specifically for iNaturalist-based examples like an observation of a carnivorous plant in Ecuador that was previously thought to be endemic to Peru, or a flower that hasn’t been documented in Wake County, NC since the 1960s.
I have the teens who discovered a new species of scorpion in the US and the npr article on all the new mushroom species being identified.
I suppose I’m mostly looking for observations that expanded known species range, new species, or anything you’ve seen that you think would excite potential new iNatters.
Thank you!
(P.S. Is there a collection of the observations that come up on the log-in page? I think I saw the carnivorous plant one there)
The photos on the log in and sign up pages are not necessarily observations of the day (although many are). They’re all from this project, and only iNat staff can add observations to the project. Only certain photos work with the format that’s used on those pages, so it’s necessary to take that into account when we choose those observations. They’re not necessarily linked to any special discovery, they’re just cool photos that work with that format.
I currently have the only iNat observation of a snowy owl in Ellsworth Co., KS. It’s one of just a handful in the whole state. I also saw a mink out there once, too, though I wasn’t able to photograph it. That would have been a first for that area, too. I don’t know that this means anything significant, though. I get the feeling that most of the people living out there have never heard of or simply have no interest in iNaturalist.
Thank you! Using that project, I found the parasitic plant that was previously thought to only be found in Ecuador, but was found in Peru (so I had it backwards) https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/40905049
This observation of the day really stuck with me- how interesting the organism is, how exciting the observation comments were… It definitely solidified how wondrous iNaturalist is to me :)
Oh, to have seen one of the first dominican spider colonizers is rad! I love cnidarians, what a neat addition to the database :') For the beetle, I would have thought ivory marked borer as well! What a neat thing to learn :)
The Edges of (all) Life project, which is funded by National Geographic, encourages people to get out and make observations on iNat as the project researchers are trying to determine the most northern and southern observations of various species. The goal of this project is to better understand species redistribution as the climate changes.
Their project is on a story map. You can search out what has been found near you on the Records Near You tab. You might have a scientifically significant observation and not know it!
I just IDed someone’s observation of a Nyctereutes procyonoides in VA.
The obsv. location was ~ 25 miles away from Zoo Atlanta, and I haven’t been able to confirm that Z.A. still has them. So I don’t know if it counts as a success, but I may have just come across something unexpected.
