Talk:3118: iNaturalist Animals and Plants

we probably need to add something about how bacteria are more common but not observable to the average person 72.203.83.113 16:36, 21 July 2025 (UTC)

Why? Bacteria are not animals or plants. 2600:387:4:803:0:0:0:2C 17:45, 21 July 2025 (UTC)

Why are some states missing their postal code? IA, FL, AK, HI don't have them. Nolanmeyer (talk) 18:27, 21 July 2025 (UTC)

I am curious which animal and which plant are mentioned for the most states? Rtanenbaum (talk) 18:43, 21 July 2025 (UTC)

Common Eastern Bumble Bee with 7 states [CT, IL, MD, MA, MN, VT, WI] and Common Milkweed with 6 states [IL, IA, MI, MN, NE, WI]Nolanmeyer (talk) 18:53, 21 July 2025 (UTC)

White-tailed Deer also has 7 states [IO, MI, MT, NH, PA, VI, WV] Rtanenbaum (talk) 19:16, 21 July 2025 (UTC)

You're right! My python script missed Iowa because of a capitalization error in the transcription. Nolanmeyer (talk) 19:32, 21 July 2025 (UTC)

Is there a hidden joke in this one that needs explaining, or is it simply an interesting data map? 37.19.197.233

Big question: what does "most-observed" mean? Most reported? Most likely for a resident to see? Most likely for a resident to pay attention to? -- Dtgriscom (talk) 19:38, 21 July 2025 (UTC)

The comic already answers that question: "Not the most common species in the state, just the one people have reported the most times." 174.53.211.85 20:06, 21 July 2025 (UTC)

iNaturalist is a phone app used by people to help contribute to citizen science (i.e. help collect data for research), so people scan animals/plants that they see to send to iNaturalist databases to be identified automatically. Most-observed means the species that are most reported to the database (so the species with the most scans). The comic notes most reported ≠ most common since many people just ignore species of animals/plants they don't believe to be notable enough to take the effort to scan such as grass. 97.126.175.170 20:10, 21 July 2025 (UTC)