Activity: I discovered a new species!

Scientists discover many new species every year … and now it’s your turn!

Creative writing activity:

Imagine that you are a scientist looking to discover a new species. And you succeed! Write a story about your quest to discover and describe this new species.

Use these questions to guide your writing:

1. What kind of plant, animal, fungus, or microbe would you like to find? 
2. Where would you look for it? (In the treetops, on the ground, under rocks, in the ocean, on a mountain top, underground, or somewhere else.)
3. What tools and technology would you use to find it? (Camera traps, mist nets, microscope, binoculars, etc.)
4. Once you found the new species, how would you tell the world that it exists? Who would you share your discovery with? Would you write a scientific paper describing it? Would you take photographs or make special drawings of it?

For more inspiration, read about some species discoveries reported on Mongabay Kids:

• Chocolate frog
• 14 new shrews
• The Jackie Chan gecko
• “Sleeping beauty” plant
• Gollum snakehead fish

Related activity: discovery in the treetops!

Learn how to identify plants, animals, and fungi with the Seek app by iNaturalist