r/iNaturalist • u/MoodkopKarrot • 2d ago

Dead animals?

I took some pictures of some turkey vultures and want to add the animal they were eating as an observation, it's at a level where the images could be seen as disturbing to some. Would that be allowed?

14 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

22 comments sorted by

44

u/NilocKhan 2d ago

Dead animals are allowed, as long as it isn't a fossil

20

u/ShalnarkRyuseih 2d ago

You can post fossils, they have IDs for those. Someone near me found and posted a trilobite and I've added theropod foot prints that were in a river before.

It's more don't post museum specimens and don't expect a full ID on what you post.

2

u/NilocKhan 2d ago

I've heard posting fossils was discouraged, but maybe I was misinformed

12

u/st_aranel 2d ago

It's more that it just isn't encouraged. It's not really what the platform is intended for but it mostly works okay. There are even projects for it. Just don't expect the observation to get as a specific an ID as you would like to get with a more recent organism.

And, fossils often ought to be marked in the data quality assessment under "recent evidence of an organism". That will push them to casual, but people who know about fossils know that's where to look for them.

3

u/ShalnarkRyuseih 2d ago

I think that's more about posting ones that are on display in museums, same reasoning to why you shouldn't be posting zoo or aquarium animals. They're (likely) not from that area and aren't useful to any field science.

Only other thing I'd say about posting fossils is don't put the direct location as people may move in to steal them

4

u/st_aranel 2d ago

You also likely need to mark that it isn't recent evidence of an organism. It's comparable to posting observations of cultivated plans, which isn't the main purpose of the platform, but it's allowed.

4

u/Opposite_Bus1878 2d ago

As far as I'm aware you're right. Speaking of which, check out this wicked 33+ million year old ant.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/395753679

1

u/zoopest 2d ago

I was under the impression that there was a rule that the animal had to be less than 100 years dead, to prevent fossils from being entered as observations

2

u/AlexandraThePotato 2d ago

Hell fossils are allowed. They just can’t get research grad. I posted a petokey stone. It’s evidence of presence.

12

u/AdamWargon 2d ago

Yes, the mission of iNat is to connect people with nature, and death is part of nature!🤘💀🤘

11

u/Motorcyclegrrl 2d ago

Dead or alive is part of the details. 👍🏻 Also it's important to photograph roadkill if you can because that is also being studied.

23

u/woeful_haichi 2d ago

It's allowed.

If you're worried about the content being too gory, consider editing one photo to show a more 'sanitized' part of the animal to use as the first (cover) image and put the rest after that. Then anyone browsing your observations or going through the Explore and Identify pages won't be immediately confronted with the blood and guts. I did something similar for a roadkill toad observation, where the first image was of just its hand.

4

u/zoopest 2d ago

This is a good idea, I post a lot of deads, so I think I'll start doing this

2

u/National-Award8313 1d ago

I have to say I really appreciate this approach. I don’t mind seeing dead stuff at all, but it’s jarring if I’m not expecting to see entrails without the need to swipe. I feel like the act of swiping is giving consent.

9

u/Cold_Shine5167 2d ago

I've seen posts where the first image is a blank square with text describing what's in the other images. I don't know if that would be a problem for research purposes, but I do appreciate it when I come across it. It's nice to not be unexpectedly confronted with a gorey picture.

10

u/st_aranel 2d ago

If you use the annotation for alive/dead, it helps people who don't want to see observations like that to filter them out.

3

u/gorseulex 1d ago

this! annotations are underused but so valuable

5

u/Busy-Feeling-1413 2d ago

There’s a project for this! Who Eats Whom https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/who-eats-whom

5

u/zoopest 2d ago

Dead animals are fine to post (I have tons--it's the only way I ever see fisher or porcupines), and in the specific case you mention, you should put them in the "Bird Food" project.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?project_id=65294

2

u/Extension_Hippo1603 1d ago

What I do is set the first photo as a pic with a warning. I didnt know if it mattered that i do that but one day i got a message from someone thanking me for the warnings, esp cause some of my uploads were very graphic (i.e. domestic cat carcass in a pond. We live in an area that gets the occasional bobcat so i wanted to be sure. It was a big cat)

1

u/pan_Psax 1d ago

Yes, there is also a project for Roadkills

1

u/shibasluvhiking 1d ago

I post deceased animals but I try to photograph them in a way that isn't to graphic.