What species live in your backyard?

Did you know you can explore the plant, reptile, bird and mammal species, not only on your patch but all over Australia, with just the click of a button?

The Atlas of Living Australia is a national biodiversity database founded on the principle of data sharing. The collaborative, national project provides free, online access to millions of flora and fauna occurrence records.

To find out what’s living in your area simply visit the Atlas of Living Australia website at http://www.ala.org.au, click on ‘explore by location’ and type in your postcode or location.

By aggregating biodiversity data from multiple sources, the Atlas provides the most comprehensive and accessible data set on Australia’s biodiversity ever produced. The database supports research, environmental monitoring, conservation planning, education, and citizen science projects and provides tools for users to search and analyse data.

How much do you know about the other creatures which share our backyard? For instance, did you know that 9 kola, 13 platypus, 1 feathertail glider, and over 2000 swamp wallaby sightings have been recorded within a 10 km radius of the Mudgee township?

Want to contribute? The Atlas of Living Australia relies on collaboration, users capturing and freely sharing data, and you can also get involved. If you find something interesting while you’re out and about you can submit data of your sightings to the Atlas.

Or you can get involved in one of hundreds of citizen science projects currently running all over the country and contribute to research which will help us learn more about our unique biodiversity.