About CreatureData
CreatureData is a reference to the animal kingdom: every species on its own page, with its classification, sourced facts, conservation status, where it has been recorded, and freely licensed photos.
What is it for?
Looking an animal up and getting a straight answer. Search by common or scientific name, filter by group, place, size or conservation status, compare two animals, or keep a list of the ones you have seen. There are currently 64 species on file.
Where do the facts come from?
From open scientific datasets, not from us: GBIF Backbone Taxonomy, GBIF occurrence aggregates (CC0 and CC BY records only), Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, English Wikipedia. Each value links to the record it was taken from, and the sources page lists every dataset with its version and licence.
What rules does it keep?
- Every fact is sourced. If a source does not give a value, the page says “Not recorded”. Nothing is estimated or filled in.
- Our words and quoted words are kept apart. Summaries are assembled from the facts on the page. Passages quoted from Wikipedia sit in marked blocks with their own credit.
- Only freely licensed material is shown, each photo and recording with its creator and licence.
- Your lists are yours. Sightings, favourites and lists stay in your browser and can be exported or deleted at any time.
The detail is in the methodology, and coverage figures are on the data page.
Can I reuse it?
Yes, within each source’s licence. Every species page is available as JSON and Markdown, and has a ready-made citation. See the page for developers and the terms of use.
Who runs it?
CreatureData is published at creaturedata.com by CreatureData. How the site handles personal data is set out in the privacy policy.
Found a mistake?
Because each value comes from a named record, the most lasting fix is at the source: the “src” link beside a fact opens the record it came from, and Wikidata and GBIF both accept corrections. The change reaches this site at its next data build.