APP OF THE DAY: Instant Wild allows you to monitor wildlife from your phone

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If you’re a nature enthusiast or a wannabe conservationist you’ll be happy to learn that the Zoological Society of London needs you to help identify some of the rarest and most threatened species on the planet all from your iPhone.

The society has developed a new application called Instant Wild, which basically delivers live photographs from across the globe of wild animals to you so you can identify them and learn more about them too.

There are numerous motion sensor camera traps in places like Mongolia, Sri Lanka and Kenya. You select which cameras you’d like to follow and then if an animal walks in front of them you’ll receive a notification. You can then zoom in to get a better look and attempt to identify the animal based on the special Fied Guide gallery. If you can’t figure out what it is then don’t worry, you can see what other people think and learn more about the species. After all, it’s probably best to be a bit hasty instead of just guessing you’ve rediscovered a triceratops.

Not only is it pretty cool that you can watch animals in random and exotic locations all over the globe, but it’s amazing that you could potentially be the first to discover a new species, or rediscover an animal once thought to be extinct.

It seems you can genuinely play a role in helping out conservation scientists too, it’s not just a sneaky gimmick (we’re far too cynical here at Shiny Shiny). The Instant Wild website states:

“When you identify the wild animal by matching the photo with the relevant image in the Field Guide you save conservationist thousands of hours by helping to sort the images by species group. This enables scientist to analyze the data much faster and assess whether the threatened animals are increasing or decreasing. This knowledge is essential for effective conservation.”

You can also discuss what you’ve discovered with other users too and view live opinions on the Instant Wild website.

Available from iTunes for Free.

Becca Caddy

One thought on “APP OF THE DAY: Instant Wild allows you to monitor wildlife from your phone”

  • Ach, see what the Instant Wild Website should say is:

    “When a Rhino (population currently being decimated by poachers with the Western Black African Rhino announced as extinct last week) or Elephant triggers an alert you can get your buddies and guns and rush over to the camera location and pick up some easy Rhino horn”

    Oh well.

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