Scientists Have Discovered 71 New Species In 2019 And Here's How 25 Of Them Look

According to a representative of the California Academy of Sciences, this year’s list of new species was “a little lower” than usual, but “full of mighty finds.”

“Since 2010, Academy scientists have described 1,375 species—quite a number! Here are numbers from previous years this decade:

2010 (113 [new species])

2011 (140)

2012 (189)

2013 (91)

2014 (221)

2015 (103)

2016 (133)

2017 (85)

2018 (229)

2019 (71).”

The Academy representative told Bored Panda that “it takes years of training, collaboration with colleagues and local residents in a given region, and species expertise for scientists to properly identify and collect species in the wild.”

“As with many species—like twilight zone reef fish and insects—there is sometimes only a tiny window of a few seconds for a scientist to act quickly and collect a specimen in the wild. It can take years of training and support to help that scientist make important, well-informed, split-second decisions in the field!”

Classifying new species isn’t without its obstacles and things like lack of funding or training can seriously hinder us from solving life’s mysteries. “It's especially hard to secure funding for maintaining collections staff, taking adequate care of specimens, and training/retaining new scientists with the expertise to confirm that a new species discovery is truly new to science.”