
And for the technically minded, the app is available for the iPhone, with iPad and Android versions to be released later this summer. Not wishing to sound cynical at all, doesn’t this seem a bit like scanning an item at the supermarket to get its price? How much real learning of the species will result? Will it lead to a more ID-literate generation? Or is the process too reliant on the technology and getting further divorced from the up-close-and-personal hands-on involvement that’s needed to really appreciate the finer details of species’ identification? In which case doesn’t this begin to sound like a version of DNA barcoding that was in vogue a few years ago and very much – for some! – the bogey-man of the time? Still, if this app helps to increase and improve ID skills I cautiously welcome it.