Maritime Aquarium Hosts Global Nature Hunt April 24 - 27

Press release from the Maritime Aquarium: As citizen science (also known as community science) initiatives increase in popularity, this year’s fifth annual City Nature Challenge is set to take place in cities throughout the world. The global event, co-organized by San Francisco’s California Academy of Sciences and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, calls on current and aspiring citizen scientists, nature and science fans, and people of all ages and backgrounds to observe and submit pictures of wild plants, animals, and fungi using the free mobile app iNaturalist. From Friday, April 24 to Monday, April 27, participants can upload their observations to the app, with identifications happening from Tuesday, April 28, to Sunday, May 3. Final results will be announced on Monday, May 4.

The Maritime Aquarium is organizing Fairfield County & Westchester County's effort of this four-day international event. You can join the Maritime Aquarium project at
www.maritimeaquarium.org/citiz...

In response to shifting public health recommendations related to COVID-19, this year’s City
Nature Challenge will no longer be a competition. Instead, participants are encouraged to
embrace the collaborative aspect of sharing observations online with a digital community, and
celebrate the healing power of nature safely, with social distancing, as they document their local
biodiversity to the best of their ability within new public safety parameters. It is imperative that participants closely follow federal and local public health guidelines as they are updated in real-time in response to COVID-19.

During such uncertain times, it’s more important than ever to foster a sense of community, and the City Nature Challenge allows participants to do just that. For both budding and veteran citizen
scientists, participating is easy:
1. Find wildlife! It can be any wild plant, animal, fungi, slime mold, or any other evidence of life
(scat, fur, tracks, shells, carcasses!) found in your neighborhood, home, backyard, or even
through your windows. You might be surprised by how many insects thrive in the nooks and
crannies around you.
2. Take pictures of what you find using iNaturalist or your city’s chosen platform.
3. Learn more as your observations are identified.

Scientists can’t be everywhere at once, so without community observations, they’d miss some
incredible finds. Last year, the City Nature Challenge tallied more than 950,000 observations made by over 35,000 people in over 150 participating cities. Notably, over 1,100 endangered, endemic, or data deficient species were recorded during the 2019 City Nature Challenge! This influx of information gives scientists, educators, urban planners, and policymakers insight into the biodiversity of urban locales throughout the world.

This press release was produced by Maritime Aquarium. The views expressed here are the author's own.