Several people have asked recently if they can post butterflies at the Butterfly Garden or jaguars at the zoo because they are not "wild" organisms. The simple answer is, yes, but also read the FAQ on the subject so you can be consistent with all other iNat users:

"Checking captive / cultivated means that the observation is of an organism that exists in the time and place it was observed because humans intended it to be then and there. Likewise, wild / naturalized organisms exist in particular times and places because they intended to do so. The main reason we try to flag things like this is because iNat is primarily about observing wild organisms, not animals in zoos, garden plants, specimens in drawers, etc., and our scientific data partners are often not interested in (or downright alarmed by) observations of captive or cultivated organisms.

Since this tends to be kind of a gray area, here are some concrete examples:

Captive / cultivated
--zebra in a zoo
--poppy in a garden
--butterfly mounted in a display case
--your cat

Wild / naturalized
--zebra in the Serengeti (assuming it's not in a zoo in the Serengeti)
--fly on a zebra in a zoo
--weed in a garden
--moth that flew into your house
--snake that you just picked up (yes, it's in your hand where you intended it to be, but the place and time is where the snake intended to be)
--feral cat
--humans (though one could argue that children in school and adults at work are often not where they would intend to be themselves)
--garden plant that is reproducing on its own and spreading outside of the garden (presumably this is not what the gardener intended)

AB. less ↑