natureAnimal names & taxonomy
Catalogue of Life is the foundation for accepted species names and taxonomy. Common names may also come from iNaturalist and Wikidata. Our source records preserve the provider and language.
Where animals have been observed
GBIF brings together biodiversity observations from contributing institutions and communities. Nature Brain uses observation countries to connect animals with places, including in Where in the Wild?
An observation tells us an animal was recorded in a place. It does not establish its native range. Where available, iNaturalist Open Range Maps provide a separate modeled estimate of distribution. These maps are incomplete and are not authoritative native-range maps.
Facts with a foundation
Structured traits are sourced from Encyclopedia of Life TraitBank, with Wikidata as a fallback. Educational text is assembled from supported traits and reviewed before publication, including translations.
The learning catalog grows as content is checked. Cataloged species are not necessarily ready for learning, and available content can differ by language.
Photography & licenses
Our image pipeline uses licensed photographs from iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons, retaining the photographer, source, and license. The sample questions and hero use these two photographs:
- Alaska Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) by Gregory “Slobirdr” Smith. CC BY-SA 2.0. Resized, converted to WebP, and cropped for display. The adapted image remains available under the same license: download the web image.
- Great Tit (Parus major) 1 by Darkone. CC BY-SA 2.5. Resized, converted to WebP, and cropped for display. The adapted image remains available under the same license: download the web image.
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Photography in the app screenshots
The feature screenshots were captured from the iOS app in English and Dutch. They have been resized and converted to WebP for this website. Wildlife photography within these screens is credited to:
- Black-winged myna (Acridotheres melanopterus) by Forest Botial-Jarvis, in the daily game screenshot.
- Emerald-chinned hummingbird (Abeillia abeillei) by Nigel Voaden, in the Explore screenshot.
- Rufous-faced warbler (Abroscopus albogularis) by 林正文, in the Explore screenshot.
- Black-faced warbler (Abroscopus schisticeps) by Paulmathi Vinod, partially visible in the Explore screenshot.
These four photographs are licensed under CC BY 4.0. The app crops them to fit its photo cards; the Explore cards also add a text overlay and shading.
A shared effort, always improving
These organizations are data sources, not sponsors or endorsers of Nature Brain. Their contributors make this kind of learning possible.
Spotted something that needs a closer look? The mobile app includes a question-feedback flow that prepares an email with the relevant animal and image details when a feedback address is configured.
Our public support contact will be added before the mobile app launches.