RE: Eduventure: The AR Edition - School Chat
08-10-2012, 05:40 AM
So I had an odd question pop into my head:
"Is there a website that has a searchable list of every known species?"
Turns out, The answer is, Almost.
Of course there is also wikipedia, but the information is scattered and incomplete.
I find the IUCN website particularly helpful, having each species subdivided by endangered status. Apparently it holds about 50k+ species in it's informative database...though that's a far cry from the total 1.9 million known species.
The encylopedia of life (which is basically a pretty picture-filled wiki-like version of the ITIS) claims to have a much larger selection to peruse. 1.1 + million pages, though I'm not sure if each page represents an individual species. It doesn't have a browsable list of it's million plus pages. So it is hard to spotcheck. (of course, I'm not certain what I would do with a comprehensive list of nearly 2 million living things shoved in my face. Though a suppose a "random species" link would prove entertaining, if just for a cursory glance)
"Is there a website that has a searchable list of every known species?"
Turns out, The answer is, Almost.
Of course there is also wikipedia, but the information is scattered and incomplete.
I find the IUCN website particularly helpful, having each species subdivided by endangered status. Apparently it holds about 50k+ species in it's informative database...though that's a far cry from the total 1.9 million known species.
The encylopedia of life (which is basically a pretty picture-filled wiki-like version of the ITIS) claims to have a much larger selection to peruse. 1.1 + million pages, though I'm not sure if each page represents an individual species. It doesn't have a browsable list of it's million plus pages. So it is hard to spotcheck. (of course, I'm not certain what I would do with a comprehensive list of nearly 2 million living things shoved in my face. Though a suppose a "random species" link would prove entertaining, if just for a cursory glance)