iNaturalist Animals and Plants

Title text: Washington, DC: Eastern gray squirrel, Amur honeysuckle. Puerto Rico: Crested anole, sea grape. US as a whole: Mallard, eastern poison ivy.

Explanation

This comic is a map of the United States showing, for each state, the name of the animal and plant most commonly reported on the citizen science social network iNaturalist. As the comic notes, these are not the most-encountered species, just the ones reported the most on iNaturalist. iNaturalist is a citizen science social network that shares observations of nature. In some cases the species most reported is an invasive species causing concern, such as brown anole and Amur honeysuckle, while some local species which are actually the most present and observable may escape being fully reported by not being considered worthy of any note.

For some smaller states, the animal and plant names are listed outside the state, with a connector line to the state. Some non-state regions are covered in the title text: the District of Columbia, too small to list such information on the district itself and in an awkward location for a connector; Puerto Rico, an unincorporated U.S. territory with a large population outside the 50 standard states (both contiguous and otherwise); and the U.S. as a whole.

The most reported animals are Common Eastern Bumble Bee and White-tailed Deer, with 7 states each, while the most reported plant is Common Milkweed, with 6 states. Of the 26 different animal species mentioned, 5 are mammals, 4 are birds, 12 are reptiles, and 5 are insects. This is part of what makes the results for "US as a whole" surprising: they only top the list in one or two states, yet become the most reported when adding up the numbers nationwide.

iNaturalist community members have noted that several species have made it on the list due to a few prolific contributors contributing large numbers of observations of the same species.

Reference table

State		Most observed...
State		Animal	Plant
AL	Alabama	Gulf fritillary	American Sweetgum Also in: GA, SC
AK	Alaska	Moose	Fireweed
AZ	Arizona	Ornate Tree Lizard (Also the State Animal of Nebraska)	Saguaro
AR	Arkansas	Three-toed box turtle (Official Reptile of Missouri)	Chinese Privet Naturalized
CA	California	Western fence lizard	California Poppy
CO	Colorado	Mule deer Also in: NM, OR, UT	Great Mullein Invasive
CT	Connecticut	Common Eastern Bumble Bee Also in: IL, MA, MD, MN, VT, WI	Striped Wintergreen
DE	Delaware	Fowler's Toad	American Pokeweed
FL	Florida	Brown Anole Invasive	White Beggar-ticks
GA	Georgia	Green Anole Also in: LA	American Sweetgum Also in: AL, SC
HI	Hawaii	Green sea turtle	ʻŌhiʻa Lehua Endangered
ID	Idaho	Mallard Also in: WA, Whole US	Big Sagebrush
IL	Illinois	Common Eastern Bumble Bee Also in: CT, MA, MD, MN, VT, WI	Common Milkweed Also in: IA, MI, MN, NE, WI
IN	Indiana	American robin Also in: NE, TN	Amur Honeysuckle Also in: DC, KS, KY, MO Invasive
IA	Iowa	White-tailed deer Also in: MI, MT, NH, PA, VA, WV	Common Milkweed Also in: IL, MI, MN, NE, WI
KS	Kansas	Ornate box turtle	Amur Honeysuckle Also in: DC, IN, KS, MO Invasive
KY	Kentucky	Common box turtle Vulnerable	Amur Honeysuckle Also in: DC, IN, KS, MO Invasive
LA	Louisiana	Green Anole Also in: GA	Bald Cypress
ME	Maine	American herring gull Also in: RI	Canadian Bunchberry
MD	Maryland	Common Eastern Bumble Bee Also in: CT, IL, MA, MN, VT, WI	Eastern White Pine Also in: MA, NH, VT
MA	Massachusetts	Common Eastern Bumble Bee Also in: CT, IL, MD, MN, VT, WI	Eastern White Pine Also in: MD, NH, VT
MI	Michigan	White-tailed Deer Also in: IA, MT, NH, PA, VA, WV	Common Milkweed Also in: IA, IL, MN, NE, WI
MN	Minnesota	Common Eastern Bumble Bee Also in: CT, IL, MA, MD, VT, WI	Common Milkweed Also in: IA, IL, MI, NE, WI
MS	Mississippi	Northern cardinal Also in: SC, TX	Pale Pitcher Plant
MO	Missouri	Brown-belted Bumble Bee	Amur Honeysuckle Also in: DC, IN, KS, KY Invasive
MT	Montana	White-tailed Deer Also in: IA, MI, NH, PA, VA, WV	Common Yarrow
NE	Nebraska	American Robin Also in: IN, TN	Common Milkweed Also in: IA, IL, MI, MN, WI
NV	Nevada	Common side-blotched lizard	Creosote Bush Also in: NM
NH	New Hampshire	White-tailed Deer Also in: IA, MI, MT, PA, VA, WV	Eastern White Pine Also in: MA, MD, VT
NJ	New Jersey	Spotted lanternfly Invasive	Common Mugwort Invasive native
NM	New Mexico	Mule Deer Also in: CO, OR, UT	Creosote Bush Also in: NV
NY	New York	Eastern gray squirrel Also in: DC, NC (Invasive to Europe)	White Snakeroot
NC	North Carolina	Eastern Gray Squirrel Also in: DC, NY	Christmas Fern Also in: TN
ND	North Dakota	American bison Also in: SD, WY	Prairie Rose (Could be one of several Prairie Rose species.)
OH	Ohio	Eastern Pondhawk	Virginia Springbeauty
OK	Oklahoma	Pond slider	Eastern Redcedar
OR	Oregon	Mule Deer Also in: CO, NM, UT	Western Ponderosa Pine ("Western" yellow-pine, a.k.a. "Ponderosa" pine?)
PA	Pennsylvania	White-tailed Deer Also in: IA, MI, MT, NH, VA, WV	Garlic Mustard Invasive
RI	Rhode Island	American Herring Gull Also in: ME	Rugosa Rose
SC	South Carolina	Northern Cardinal Also in: MS, TX	American Sweetgum Also in: AL, GA
SD	South Dakota	American Bison Also in: ND, WY	Hoary Vervain
TN	Tennessee	American Robin Also in: IN, NE	Christmas Fern Also in: NC
TX	Texas	Northern Cardinal Also in: MS, SC	Pinkladies
UT	Utah	Mule Deer Also in: CO, NM, OR	Utah Juniper
VT	Vermont	Common Eastern Bumble Bee Also in: CT, IL, MA, MD, MN, WI	Eastern White Pine Also in: MA, MD, NH
VA	Virginia	White-tailed Deer Also in: IA, MI, MT, NH, PA, WV	Eastern Poison Ivy Also in: Whole US
WA	Washington	Mallard Also in: ID, Whole US	Western Sword Fern
WV	West Virginia	White-tailed Deer Also in: IA, MI, MT, NH, PA, VA	Great Rhododendron
WI	Wisconsin	Common Eastern Bumble Bee Also in: CT, IL, MA, MD, MN, VT	Common Milkweed Also in: IA, IL, MI, MN, NE
WY	Wyoming	American Bison Also in: ND, SD	Sticky Geranium
DC	Washington DC (title text)	Eastern gray squirrel Also in: NC, NY	Amur Honeysuckle Also in: IN, KS, KY, MO Invasive
PR	Puerto Rico (title text)	Crested anole	Sea grape
	US as a whole (title text)	Mallard Also in: WA, ID	Eastern poison ivy Also in: VA

Transcript

This is one of 27 incomplete transcripts.
Please help by editing it!

[The comic shows a map of the United States with state borders (including Hawaii and Alaska inset in the lower left) and two-letter state codes for each state. The map includes the Northwest Angle, which is not typically shown on maps of this scale.]

[Above the map]: The Most-Observed Animal and Plant in Each State on iNaturalist

[Below that, in parentheses]: Not the most common species in the state, just the one people have reported the most times.

[Each state has text of the format "Animal" on top and "Plant" below. For RI, VT, NH, MA, CT, NJ, DE, and MD, the text is outside the state border with a line connecting them.]

[In alphabetical order, the states have the following Animal/Plant text]:

Alabama: Gulf Fritillary; American Sweetgum

Alaska: Moose; Fireweed

Arizona: Ornate Tree Lizard; Saguaro

Arkansas: Three-toed Box Turtle; Chinese Privet

California: Western Fence Lizard; California Poppy

Colorado: Mule Deer; Great Mullein

Connecticut: Common Eastern Bumble Bee; Striped Wintergreen

Delaware: Fowler's Toad; American Pokeweed

Florida: Brown Anole; White Beggar-ticks

Georgia: Green Anole; American Sweetgum

Hawaii: Green Sea Turtle; ʻŌhiʻa Lehua

Idaho: Mallard; Big Sagebrush

Illinois: Common Eastern Bumble Bee; Common Milkweed

Indiana: American Robin; Amur Honeysuckle

Iowa: White-tailed Deer; Common Milkweed

Kansas: Ornate Box Turtle; Amur Honeysuckle

Kentucky: Common Box Turtle; Amur Honeysuckle

Louisiana: Green Anole; Bald Cypress

Maine: American Herring Gull; Canadian Bunchberry

Maryland: Common Eastern Bumble Bee; Eastern White Pine

Massachusetts: Common Eastern Bumble Bee; Eastern White Pine

Michigan: White-tailed Deer; Common Milkweed

Minnesota: Common Eastern Bumble Bee; Common Milkweed

Mississippi: Northern Cardinal; Pale Pitcher Plant

Missouri: Brown-belted Bumble Bee; Amur Honeysuckle

Montana: White-tailed Deer; Common Yarrow

Nebraska: American Robin; Common Milkweed

Nevada: Common Side-blotched Lizard; Creosote Bush

New Hampshire: White-tailed Deer; Eastern White Pine

New Jersey: Spotted Lanternfly; Common Mugwort

New Mexico: Mule Deer; Creosote Bush

New York: Eastern Gray Squirrel; White Snakeroot

North Carolina: Eastern Gray Squirrel; Christmas Fern

North Dakota: American Bison; Prairie Rose

Ohio: Eastern Pondhawk; Virginia Springbeauty

Oklahoma: Pond Slider; Eastern Redcedar

Oregon: Mule Deer; Western Ponderosa Pine

Pennsylvania: White-tailed Deer; Garlic Mustard

Rhode Island: American Herring Gull; Rugosa Rose

South Carolina: Northern Cardinal; American Sweetgum

South Dakota: American Bison; Hoary Vervain

Tennessee: American Robin; Christmas Fern

Texas: Northern Cardinal; Pinkladies

Utah: Mule Deer; Utah Juniper

Vermont: Common Eastern Bumble Bee; Eastern White Pine

Virginia: White-tailed Deer; Eastern Poison Ivy

Washington: Mallard; Western Sword Fern

West Virginia: White-tailed Deer; Great Rhododendron

Wisconsin: Common Eastern Bumble Bee; Common Milkweed

Wyoming: American Bison; Sticky Geranium

Trivia

In the original version of the comic, the postal codes for Iowa, Florida, Alaska, and Hawaii were missing from the map. They were later added.

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Discussion

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)

The lack of fungi is perhaps more noteworthy. --86.13.226.126 16:44, 22 July 2025 (UTC)

Why? Should they have appeared as significantly noted animals? 82.132.244.2 17:13, 22 July 2025 (UTC)

>"bacteria ....not observable to the average person" They is. Some special folks have microscopes. Lots of folks have aquaria or pond-scum and some of that is bacterial. My wetland (and brown well-water) is full of iron-bacteria. And then there are tree-galls (big cancer-like lumps) some of which are due to bacteria. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_id=67333 -- --PRR (talk) 17:30, 23 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)

Probably human error. 2001:4C4E:1C00:BF00:658B:2EF0:F9ED:69A 12:27, 22 July 2025 (UTC)

Added a trivia section! --FaviFake (talk) 13:52, 22 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

Looks like just an interesting map. Nothing wrong with that. --81.96.108.67 20:50, 21 July 2025 (UTC)

Wrong. What's wrong with it is that there's no joke. It's not "comic" in any way. 70.16.143.48 (talk) 22:03, 21 July 2025 (UTC) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

It may have derived from the earlier use of 'comic' implying a joke or humour, but the modern use of 'comic' for the artform does not. For example, Wikipedia refers to it as "a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information", which is exactly what this is. 82.13.184.33 10:41, 22 July 2025 (UTC)

'Wikipedia' is perhaps the literal least reliable source of information on the planet. 70.16.143.48

^{[actual citation needed]}

To be precise, if anybody knows (or thinks) that Wikipedia is wrong, they can make changes. Compared with the current tendency to have an AI try to pre-emptively summarise a search-engine result when there's absolutely no way to correct obvious errors, or any more traditional and static online encyclopedia or 'expert' page which may be replete with errors and outdated information that cannot be easily corrected (if at all).

Not to say that Wikipedia is the most reliable source (always worth a check elsewhere, if it really matters), but it's potentially far more reliable than many of its alternatives. 82.132.246.160 20:36, 23 July 2025 (UTC)

I'm sure you believe that you're honestly being "precise", but I strongly, strongly urge and implore you to go and attempt to make a change on a wikipedia "article" that you believe is wrong. Seriously, go try it.70.16.143.48

If your 'correction' is correct, and you're sticking to clear and objective truths, you won't have a problem. If you're prone to conveying controversial opinions, I imagine that you might have a different experience. To not reasonably trust the current "comic" page, for example, or (if you tried to make any) failed to have any of your suggested changes stand, it probably says more about you.

And if you can't find any more badly written resources elsewhere, even for something pointedly marked as a stub, you're either not looking hard enough or you're in thrall to the wrongheaded information sources concerned for a particular subject. Keep an open mind (but not so open that your brain gets replaced). "Trust but verify" is a reasonable mantra, and Wikipedia helps with the latter more than most places. But somehow this wiki seems to have become the place where this is being discussed (anecdotally), in a way that would rightfully rejected in any actual wiki-type article as being unreferenced. 82.132.244.85 22:28, 24 July 2025 (UTC)

No, if your "correction" sticks to the sociopolitical agenda of the "editors" in charge, you won't have a problem. The site itself conveys many controversial opinions... but only the ones that align with their echo chamber.70.16.143.48

I refer you again to the unlikelihood that "what a comic is" even has such biases that you might consider relevent, which is the only reason we're having this conversation. I can't, and won't, tell you that there aren't issues where wikipedia's group consensus is antithetical to your personal opinion, whatever that might be, and vice-versa. But I think you place too much credit to imagine the nebulous 'They' have rendered even the most utterly tangential articles to inaccurately support whatever particular agenda you consider Them wanting to to push. To declare "the literal least reliable source of information on the planet" is laughably wrong. I could point you at North Korean TV, as an easy counterexample, and various other broadcasters (trying here to not accidentally name one that you personally treat as sacrosanct, with no way to guess which perspective you might lean). Listing social media accounts that you might find eternally ludicrous (again, no names, as maybe there'll be some of these you might consider the fountainhead of true knowledge) or other websites (wiki-like and otherwise) could be trivial.

I'm unclear about whether you are not capable of recognizing hyperbole or if you just want to feel "right". Obviously I'm aware that there are less reliable propaganda machines out there. I will stand by the point that if any of their information is misleading then it should all be taken as such.70.16.143.48

But my apologies. In the last response I had intended to grant you the right of having the last word, before officially bowing out, and that would have saved this whole repetition and restating of opinion. So you may have your final word, below, instead. I think we remain at an impass that I'm sure nobody else wants me to prolong further. 82.132.247.115 08:27, 25 July 2025 (UTC)

Virtue signaling. I don't care.70.16.143.48

How often did Prince Valiant or Spider Man have a joke? Also, so many of the zombine strips on the "funny" pages haven't been humourous for years. 2600:387:4:803:0:0:0:2C 20:23, 22 July 2025 (UTC)

Re: spider man; multiple times in every single issue. Re: zombine strips; now we're talking short-form graphic novels, not comics.70.16.143.48

Ah, so the joke is that a lot of these are invasive species, or just from one person over reporting. That makes more sense. It's difficult to tell whether the silly names for animals and trees are real or parody. 212.56.54.115 21:16, 22 July 2025 (UTC)

There isn't a joke. There doesn't need to be a joke. 82.13.184.33 08:23, 23 July 2025 (UTC)

Yes there does. 70.16.143.48

Sometimes, it's enough to be just informative. But, as it happens, it's informative with humour, as perhaps being unexpected information (and the fact that the information has an overly narrowly focus in the way it explains it) that can at the very least raise a wry grin.

For example, look at a species (or group of very similar ones) that shows across a range of states. And, further, consider that it might still be a near-top, just not actually top, in various neighbouring states. You can, in your mind's eye, translate that into a very revealing 'heat map' which I (YMMV) actually find very entertaining. Not as basic as "joke and punchline", but still far from unentertaining, if you let it be. 82.132.246.160 20:36, 23 July 2025 (UTC)

It might not be wrong to have no joke in this one, but it certainly is unusual for Randall to post such a comic, especially as practically all maps that have ever appeared in xkcd have been obviously wrong in one way or another.88.85.137.11 16:17, 24 July 2025 (UTC)

Yup. There's clearly a punchline in here somewhere that we're missing.70.16.143.48

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)

If people were reporting common animals they see, they'd probably be dogs and cats. And even more common would be insects -- a backyard probably has hundreds of ants living in it. Barmar (talk) 23:30, 21 July 2025 (UTC)

"reporting common animals they see," iNat members report what they think is worth reporting. I aint got time to figure if I see more cedar or maple-- in fact I reported a maple only cuz I found a spectaculary colorful maple leaf, a great picture. It is casual observations, not a strict census. (Yes, some observers get a bit obsessive, but still.......) Yes, dogs get reported a lot-- it is a great way to learn the process and you may already have good photos of Rover. -- PRR (talk) 01:04, 22 July 2025 (UTC) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Does this app double as an identification tool? In that case it might also be animals/plants that people don't know and are curious about. (I live in Germany and have a similar app for plants, but I admit I mostly use it for stuff that catches my eye, not for stuff I think is scientifically worth reporting.)--176.199.208.178 07:36, 22 July 2025 (UTC)

>"double as an identification tool?" Yes. It has an expert-computer (pre-"AI") tool and also (human?) commenters, some very expert in a field. I get various 'salamanders' and iNat returns very specific identification. It's totally free. You don't have to use their 'app'. You should try it. --PRR (talk) 15:32, 23 July 2025 (UTC)

For the other U.S. Territories not mentioned (sorted animal, plant):

Guam: Hawaiian Garden Spider, Coconut Palm
Northern Marianas: Mariana Kingfisher, Alim
American Samoa: Striped Surgeonfish, Fish Poison Tree
US Virgin Islands: Green Iguana, Portia Tree

United States Minor Outlying Islands (collectively): Laysan Albatross, Stalky Grass

Baker Island: Painted Lady, Rugosa Rose
Howland Island: (not a valid location in iNat)
Jarvis Island: Masked Booby, Sooty Tern (tie), (no plant)
Johnston Atoll: Great Frigatebird, Beach Plant
Kingman Reef: (no animal or plant)
Midway Atoll: Laysan Albatross, Beach Naupaka
Navassa Island: (not a valid location in iNat)
Palmyra Atoll: Red-Footed Booby, Grand-Devil's Claws
Wake Island: (not a valid location in iNat)

122.56.85.105 21:44, 21 July 2025 (UTC)

You seem to be confusing Baker Island (in the Pacific) with various Baker's Islands in New England. --2601:19B:4103:97F0:C0A5:13A4:35B3:1B35 11:20, 23 July 2025 (UTC)

The surprising part is that palmettos isn't South Carolina's and deer isn't Maine's, and Virginia Springbeauty is in Ohio. Strontium (talk) 03:21, 22 July 2025 (UTC)

> "deer isn't Maine's" Deer in Maine ain't what they used to be. Deer love abandoned farmland going back to wilderness. That happened in Maine in the 1930s as cars changed farming and vacationing. Much of Maine is more heavily wooded today than any time since 1800. I saw more deer in New Jersey. -- PRR (talk) 15:44, 23 July 2025 (UTC) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Is there a category for the very rare XKCD strips which don't include any humour, even in the alt text? I can't think of any from recent years, which makes this one extraordinary, but I might be forgetting some obvious examples. 82.42.161.198 16:29, 22 July 2025 (UTC)

Now counts I think? Both Money and the Election Challengers map have some humor iirc. 2600:1700:BF20:D10:1C87:359:5132:6A85 16:46, 22 July 2025 (UTC)

You could argue Now doesn't count because "assuming the Earth continues spinning" is likely intended as humor or at least is humorously pedantic. TheAnvil (talk) 17:19, 23 July 2025 (UTC)

A cursory look at the chart-based comics suggests Visual Field, Marriage, and Dominant Players as possible contenders (depending on what you find humorous). Surprisingly many are eliminated by the alt text alone (e.g. Congress). Of course, many of the early sketches fall under this category (e.g. Petit Trees) but there definitely aren’t many recent ones. 2600:1700:BF20:D10:DCFB:7F23:8215:86A5 19:42, 23 July 2025 (UTC)

@<yourfavouriteAI> please write a python script that replaces each name of a State, Plant, or Animal in this list by a link to en.wikipedia.org. (Or just do it directly.) --2001:16B8:CC3A:C700:452A:E6C7:F2AE:A2F8 18:14, 22 July 2025 (UTC)

Not as the page currently stands. The only mention, currently, of the entire list is in the Transcript. Which should not be linked to anywhere.

This is actually an ideal article to use a (sortable) table for, in the Explanation itself. Three columns: State, Animal and Plant. In that, you can link each state and the first (and perhaps only) appearance of any wikilinkable fauna/flora. (You could add a symbol/key to each entry that's an invasive species, or use cell hues on a scale of green=natural to red=devestatingly displacing. Maybe fourth/fifth columns for such notes about the iNaturalist data, including what actually is officially the most common thing, objectively. But maybe not, if it clutters things up too much.)

And I also wouldn't trust an AI to write a script to do this. (Why not just ask the AI to give you the result directly, if you're so inclined?) Nor would I think it worthwhile to do such a convoluted way of doing such a simple task that's not even being reliably automated so that you could repeat it. Just think/act for yourself, in cases like these. AI is the new 2267: Blockchain, and still not in a good way. 82.132.244.114 19:28, 22 July 2025 (UTC)

Done a table for you. If you don't like the way I've HRed the info (to keep columns compact, make at least one HR 'level' (possible HR+"See also <other states>", possible HR and+"Invasive/other note") an additional column fairly easily. Or I had considered align-righting the HRed stuff, for further visual separation. Either way, everything is linked (manually checked, possible made manual errors) once per fauna/flora example.

Also overwrote the unfinished (indeed, unstarted) table that someone else put there, and of course removed the "Do a table" {{incomplete}} thing. 92.23.2.228 07:36, 26 July 2025 (UTC)

I noticed that if you go to Randall's Bluesky account here and check the alt-text for the comics, there's a basic transcript available. Here's the one for today: The Most-Observed Animal and Plant in Each State on iNaturalist. (Not the most common species in the state, just the one people have reported the most times.) [labeled map of the US] WA: Mallard/Western Sword Fern. OR: Mule Deer/Western Ponderosa Pine. CA: Western Fence Lizard/California Poppy. HI: Green Sea Turtle/‘Ōhi’a Lehua. ID: Mallard/Big Sagebrush. NV: Common Side-Blotched Lizard/Creosote Bush. MT: White-Tailed Deer/Common Yarrow. WY: American Bison/Sticky Geranium. UT: Mule Deer/Utah Juniper. AZ: Ornate Tree Lizard/Saguaro. CO: Mule Deer/Great Mullein. NM: Mule Deer/Creosote Bush. AK: Moose/Fireweed. ND: American Bison/Prairie Rose. SD: American Bison/Hoary Vervain. NE: American Robin/Common Milkweed. KS: Ornate Box Turtle/Amur Honeysuckle. OK: Pond Slider/Eastern Redcedar. TX: Northern Cardinal/Pinladies. MN, WI, IL: Common Eastern Bumble Bee/Common Milkweed. IA, MI: White-Tailed Deer/Common Milkweed. MO: Brown-Belted Bumble Bee/Amur Honeysuckle. AR: Three-toed Box Turtle/Chinese Privet. LA: Green Anole/Baldcypress. IN: American Robin/Amur Honeysuckle. OH: Eastern Pondhawk/Virginia Springbeauty. KY: Common Box Turtle/Amur Honeysuckle. TN: American Robin/Christmas Fern. MS: Northern Cardinal/Pale Pitcher Plant. AL: Gulf Fritillary/American Sweetgum. GA: Green Anole/American Sweetgum. FL: Brown Anole/White Beggarticks. NY: Eastern Gray Squirrel/White Snakeroot. PA: White-Tailed Deer/Garlic Mustard. WV: White-Tailed Deer/Great Rhododendron. VA: White-Tailed Deer/Eastern Poison Ivy. MD: White-Tailed Deer/Wineberry. DE: Fowler’s Toad/American Pokeweed. NC: Eastern Gray Squirrel/Christmas Fern. SC: Northern Cardinal/American Sweetgum. NJ: Spotted Lanternfly/Common Mugwort. VT: Common Eastern Bumble Bee/Eastern White Pine. NH: White-Tailed Deer/Eastern White Pine. MA: Common Eastern Bumble Bee/Eastern White Pine. CT: Common Eastern Bumble Bee/Striped Wintergreen. RI: American Herring Gull. ME: American Herring Gull/Canadian Bunchberry. Maybe the bot could add this. 50.190.39.57 17:51, 23 July 2025 (UTC)

Did some more research, the endpoint is here and the object is (response).feed[0].record.embed.images[0].alt. Unfortunately, there's no line breaks, but overall, should be good! I am kinda busy so can't do a PR on the github repo but it should be fairly easy to implement. 50.190.39.57 18:07, 23 July 2025 (UTC)

This would be an interesting map to color code by group. Like that "largest employer by state" map that has different colors for employment classification: government, education, medical, retail, manufacturing, and Denver International Airport. RegularSizedGuy (talk) 17:58, 23 July 2025 (UTC)

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3118: iNaturalist Animals and Plants

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