The Wildlife Challenge 2025 Summary
The Schoolyard Wildlife Challenge, launched for the first time in March 2025, engaged over 1,000 students from 16 schools across Israel in a discovery and learning project focused on local wildlife diversity. Together, they uploaded more than 3,000 observations representing 526 species to the iNaturalist platform.
Many wild animals live alongside us — near our homes, schools, and neighborhoods. But how well do we know them? Are we opening our eyes to the nature around us? And in our busy daily lives, how can we pay more attention to our natural surroundings?
To encourage this awareness, the Schoolyard Wildlife Challenge was launched for the first time this March. More than 1,000 students from 16 schools across the country participated. They searched for animals in and around their school grounds, uploaded their species observations using the iNaturalist app, and—most importantly—discovered the incredible diversity that exists right outside their door while learning about the importance of nature conservation.
During the challenge, students uploaded over 3,000 observations of 526 species, including insects, birds, mammals, mollusks, and more. These observations joined the hundreds of thousands submitted by iNaturalist users worldwide. Each school had a dedicated project page on the platform, and the data were used to tally results in a friendly competition for the highest species count.
Challenge Winners
- 3rd Place: Omar bin Al-Khattab School in Nazareth, with 1,070 observations and 97 species.
- 2nd Place: Magen School in Tel Aviv, with 588 observations and 202 species.
- 1st Place: The School for Nature, Environment and Society in Tel Aviv, with 668 observations and 324 species.
We were featured on Ynet!
Cover photo by: Mera Hloun, iNaturalist
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