App lets children scan for wildlife

WWF has unveiled a child-friendly app to inspire the next generation of naturalists by asking them to build a Uk-wide picture of biodiversity.

“Seek”, launched in collaboration with inaturalist and Our Planet,a Netflix series, is designed to encourage young people to connect with the natural world on their doorstep.

Users scan the environment with their smartphone camera and the app then applies image recognition technology to identify organisms and plants, drawing from millions of wildlife observations, and reveals the insects, birds, plants and amphibians that have been recorded nearby.

The app also challenges children to find and identify new animal species, plants and fungi, rewarding them with discovery badges. Findings can be submitted to inaturalist, which gathers observations from around the world to map biodiversity. Samantha Herbert