CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html> <html dir='ltr' lang='en'> <head> <meta name="csrf-param" content="authenticity_token" /> <meta name="csrf-token" content="NBMoxZPQ2aFNyTUa3gQhi+6hifRw6Iwj0FlPr6zdoJx4W5+yYc5QJrbsvu+IaH/KqIdzp3ou525Kt5zxkVC4og==" /> <meta content='text/html; charset=UTF-8' http-equiv='Content-Type'> <meta content='width=device-width, initial-scale=1' name='viewport'> <title> Encyclopedia of Life </title> <link rel="stylesheet" media="all" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/semantic-ui/2.3.3/components/button.min.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" media="all" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/semantic-ui/2.3.3/components/dimmer.min.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" media="all" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/semantic-ui/2.3.3/components/header.min.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" media="all" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/semantic-ui/2.3.3/components/icon.min.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" media="all" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/semantic-ui/2.3.3/components/image.min.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" media="all" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/semantic-ui/2.3.3/components/input.min.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" media="all" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/semantic-ui/2.3.3/components/label.min.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" media="all" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/semantic-ui/2.3.3/components/loader.min.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" media="all" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/semantic-ui/2.3.3/components/list.min.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" media="all" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/semantic-ui/2.3.3/components/menu.min.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" media="all" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/semantic-ui/2.3.3/components/dropdown.min.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" media="all" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/semantic-ui/2.3.3/components/search.min.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" media="all" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/semantic-ui/2.3.3/components/segment.min.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" media="all" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/semantic-ui/2.3.3/components/statistic.min.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" media="all" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/semantic-ui/2.3.3/components/sticky.min.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" media="all" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/semantic-ui/2.3.3/components/transition.min.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" media="all" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/font-awesome/4.7.0/css/font-awesome.min.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" media="all" href="/packs/css/stylesheets/application-1f29efcb.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" media="all" href="/packs/css/stylesheets/editor_pages-0d58251d.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" media="all" href="/assets/jqcloud-f0639a0b65fbc9997c3a768b99fe8ee5611ffee32d1cf23083b63ee861bcc602.css" /> <script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.12.4.min.js" crossorigin="anonymous" defer="defer"></script> <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/corejs-typeahead/1.2.0/typeahead.bundle.min.js" defer="defer"></script> <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/uikit/3.1.6/js/uikit.min.js" defer="defer"></script> <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/uikit/3.1.6/js/uikit-icons.min.js" defer="defer"></script> <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/semantic-ui/2.3.1/components/api.min.js" defer="defer"></script> <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/semantic-ui/2.3.1/components/search.min.js" defer="defer"></script> <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/semantic-ui/2.3.1/components/sticky.min.js" defer="defer"></script> <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/semantic-ui/2.3.1/components/dimmer.min.js" defer="defer"></script> <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/semantic-ui/2.3.1/components/dropdown.min.js" defer="defer"></script> <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/semantic-ui/2.3.1/components/transition.min.js" defer="defer"></script> <script> I18n = {}; I18n.defaultLocale = "en" I18n.locale = "en" </script> <script src="/packs/js/runtime-138760ce02a10efbb84f.js" defer="defer"></script> <script src="/packs/js/8915-b1697b29d0a6b6d6bf9f.js" defer="defer"></script> <script src="/packs/js/application-431428328720eaf3316c.js" defer="defer"></script> <script async src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=UA-3298646-10'></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'UA-3298646-10'); </script>  <script> window.webtrendsAsyncInit=function(){ var dcs=new Webtrends.dcs().init({ dcsid:"dcsg0chobadzpxfga2extd7pb_7c2s", domain:"logs1.smithsonian.museum", timezone:-5, i18n:true, fpcdom:".eol.org", plugins:{ } }).track(); }; (function(){ var s=document.createElement("script"); s.async=true; s.src="https://www.si.edu/sites/all/modules/si_webtrends/js/webtrends.min.js"; var s2=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; s2.parentNode.insertBefore(s,s2); }()); </script> <noscript> <img alt='dcsimg' height='1' id='dcsimg' src='//logs1.smithsonian.museum/dcsg0chobadzpxfga2extd7pb_7c2s/njs.gif?dcsuri=/nojavascript&amp;WT.js=No&amp;WT.tv=10.4.23&amp;dcssip=www.eol.org' width='1'> </noscript>  <meta name="csrf-param" content="authenticity_token" /> <meta name="csrf-token" content="whEfklKY7WoabVU0EqWFHa+1srtvHDcsVJ7r5kLv+juOWajloIZk7eFI3sFEydtc6ZNI6GXaXGHOcDi4f2LiBQ==" /> </head> <body> <div id='mobile-menu' uk-offcanvas='overlay: true; flip: true'> <div class='uk-offcanvas-bar'> <ul class='uk-nav'> <li><a href="/docs/what-is-eol">About</a></li> <li><a href="http://education.eol.org">Education</a></li> <li><a href="http://discuss.eol.org">Discuss</a></li> <li><a href="/traitbank">TraitBank</a></li> <li><a href="/users/sign_in">Sign In</a></li> <li><a href="/users/sign_up">Sign Up</a></li> <li class='uk-nav-header'>Language</li> <li><a href="/set_locale?set_locale=de">Deutsch</a></li> <li><a href="/set_locale?set_locale=en">English</a></li> <li><a href="/set_locale?set_locale=es">Español</a></li> <li><a href="/set_locale?set_locale=fr">français</a></li> <li><a href="/set_locale?set_locale=it">italiano</a></li> <li><a href="/set_locale?set_locale=nl">Nederlands</a></li> <li><a href="/set_locale?set_locale=pms">Piemontèis</a></li> <li><a href="/set_locale?set_locale=pt-BR">Português do Brasil</a></li> <li><a href="/set_locale?set_locale=fi">suomi</a></li> <li><a href="/set_locale?set_locale=tr">Türkçe</a></li> <li><a href="/set_locale?set_locale=cs">Čeština</a></li> <li><a href="/set_locale?set_locale=el">Ελληνικά</a></li> <li><a href="/set_locale?set_locale=mk">македонски</a></li> <li><a href="/set_locale?set_locale=uk">Українська</a></li> <li><a href="/set_locale?set_locale=ar">العربية</a></li> <li><a href="/set_locale?set_locale=zh-CN">简体中文</a></li> <li><a href="/set_locale?set_locale=zh-TW">繁體中文</a></li> <li class='uk-nav-header'>names in breadcrumbs</li> <li> <form class="js-bread-type-toggle" action="/breadcrumb_type" accept-charset="UTF-8" method="post"><input name="utf8" type="hidden" value="✓" autocomplete="off" /><input type="hidden" name="authenticity_token" value="feT+nUa2s8Xc6hTJlb5EqSvyWnH6c0jJIWA6Q8baeJumABNnJoc5osCJWCdgeicu9JXazbV3dQ3Yuj3QftLilg==" autocomplete="off" /> <select name="type" id="type"><option selected="selected" value="0">vernacular</option> <option value="1">scientific</option></select> </form> </li> </ul> <div class='uk-offcanvas-close' uk-close></div> </div> </div> <div class='l-nav js-navbar'> <div class='nav-left'> <div class='nav-item nav-menu-anchor uk-visible@s'> <a class="nav-logo" href="/"><img alt="EOL" src="/assets/blue_logo-5c5dbb19100961ce1612fdb8fc090b944f11a79066a7163558d3ba52ecb36746.png" /></a> <span> </span> <i class='fa fa-chevron-down'></i> </div> <div uk-dropdown='mode: click; pos: bottom-left; offset: 0'> <ul class='uk-nav uk-dropdown-nav uk-nav-primary'> <li><a href="/docs/what-is-eol">About</a></li> <li><a href="http://education.eol.org">Education</a></li> <li><a href="http://discuss.eol.org">Discuss</a></li> <li><a href="/traitbank">TraitBank</a></li> <li><a href="/users/sign_in">Sign In</a></li> <li><a href="/users/sign_up">Sign Up</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class='nav-item nav-menu-anchor uk-visible@s'> <i class='fa fa-globe'></i>   en   <i class='fa fa-chevron-down'></i> </div> <div uk-dropdown='mode: click; pos: bottom-left; offset: 0'> <ul class='uk-nav uk-dropdown-nav'> <li><a href="/set_locale?set_locale=de">Deutsch</a></li> <li><a href="/set_locale?set_locale=en">English</a></li> <li><a href="/set_locale?set_locale=es">Español</a></li> <li><a href="/set_locale?set_locale=fr">français</a></li> <li><a href="/set_locale?set_locale=it">italiano</a></li> <li><a href="/set_locale?set_locale=nl">Nederlands</a></li> <li><a href="/set_locale?set_locale=pms">Piemontèis</a></li> <li><a href="/set_locale?set_locale=pt-BR">Português do Brasil</a></li> <li><a href="/set_locale?set_locale=fi">suomi</a></li> <li><a href="/set_locale?set_locale=tr">Türkçe</a></li> <li><a href="/set_locale?set_locale=cs">Čeština</a></li> <li><a href="/set_locale?set_locale=el">Ελληνικά</a></li> <li><a href="/set_locale?set_locale=mk">македонски</a></li> <li><a href="/set_locale?set_locale=uk">Українська</a></li> <li><a href="/set_locale?set_locale=ar">العربية</a></li> <li><a href="/set_locale?set_locale=zh-CN">简体中文</a></li> <li><a href="/set_locale?set_locale=zh-TW">繁體中文</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class='nav-item nav-menu-anchor uk-hidden@s'> <a class="nav-logo" href="/"><img alt="EOL" src="/assets/blue_logo-5c5dbb19100961ce1612fdb8fc090b944f11a79066a7163558d3ba52ecb36746.png" /></a> </div> <div class='nav-item nav-menu-anchor uk-visible@s'> <i class='fa fa-cog'></i> <i class='fa fa-chevron-down'></i> </div> <div uk-dropdown='mode: click; pos: bottom-left; offset: 0'> <div class='uk-nav uk-dropdown-nav uk-nav-primary'> <div class='uk-nav-header'>names in breadcrumbs</div> <form class="js-bread-type-toggle" action="/breadcrumb_type" accept-charset="UTF-8" method="post"><input name="utf8" type="hidden" value="✓" autocomplete="off" /><input type="hidden" name="authenticity_token" value="hf3kyflizm3lhS6SeJWwHNt+YLsF1FLz8f1BKer0pQpeGQkzmVNECvnmYnyNUdObBBngB0rQbzcIJ0a6Uvw/Bw==" autocomplete="off" /> <div class='uk-grid-small uk-child-width-auto uk-grid'> <label> <input type="radio" name="type" id="type_0" value="0" class="uk-radio" checked="checked" /> vernacular </label> <label> <input type="radio" name="type" id="type_1" value="1" class="uk-radio" /> scientific </label> </div> </form> </div> </div> </div> <form class="nav-search-form" action="/search" accept-charset="UTF-8" method="get"><input name="utf8" type="hidden" value="✓" autocomplete="off" /> <input type="text" name="q" id="q" class="nav-search js-nav-search" data-no-results-text="<strong>No confirmed results</strong><br />Hit Enter to see uncurated results" autocomplete="off" /> <i class='fa fa-search fa-lg nav-item nav-search-icon'></i> </form> <div class='nav-right nav-item nav-menu-anchor nav-menu-anchor-bars uk-hidden@s' uk-toggle='#mobile-menu'> <i class='fa fa-bars'></i> </div> </div> <img class="print-logo" src="/assets/print_logo-d9be0e683b5dbbd007c371799af3aeb9d7444008a39bd56c9e383ce79312350c.png" /> <div class='uk-container'> <div id='main'> <div class='uk-section uk-padding-remove-bottom'> <div class='editor-page'> <h1>What is EOL?</h1> <div class='content'><div>Our knowledge of the many life-forms on Earth - of animals, plants, fungi, protists and bacteria - is scattered around the world in books, journals, databases, websites, specimen collections, and in the minds of people everywhere. Imagine what it would mean if this information could be gathered together and made available to everyone – anywhere – at a moment’s notice. This dream is becoming a reality through the Encyclopedia of Life.<br><br></div><div><br>Our Vision: Global access to knowledge about life on Earth.<br><br></div><div><br>Our Mission: To increase awareness and understanding of living nature through an Encyclopedia of Life that gathers, generates, and shares knowledge in an open, freely accessible and trusted digital resource.<br><br></div><div><br>Our Methods: </div><ul><li>identifying sources of biodiversity knowledge that are legally and practically shareable</li><li>enriching their structure using modern data tools in order to integrate them with other knowledge</li><li>aggregating them into a combined knowledge base</li><li>providing access to the knowledge at a granular level using faceted search tools and data services in commonly used formats</li><li>collaborating with data hubs worldwide to support interoperability and sharing</li></ul><div><br>Our Community:<br><br></div><div>We work with open access biodiversity knowledge providers around the world, including museums and libraries, universities and research centers, individual scientists, graduate students and citizen science communities, and a suite of international open data hubs. Everyone has a job to do. Scientists and other observers generate data, photos, videos and descriptive text. Bioinformaticists and technicians, professional and volunteer, digitize and organize this information. Publishers and data sharing platforms support sharing of the information through explicit licenses and data services. Integrators, like EOL, receive information from many sources, and format and annotate it so that search tools can find similar content from different sources. If you've published a biodiversity dataset or a wildlife photo online that is licensed for sharing, you are one of us.<br><br></div><div><strong><br>The following institutions participate in EOL:</strong></div><div><br>Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History<br>Marine Biological Laboratory<br>New Library of Alexandria<br><br></div><div><strong><br>EOL collaborates with the following global bioinformatics projects:</strong></div><div><br>Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL)<br>Barcode of Life (BOLD)<br>Catalogue of Life (COL)<br>Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)<br><br></div><div><strong><br>New Version<br></strong><br></div><div>EOL v3, the current platform, was launched in November 2018. If you are familiar with the old version and would like an update, <a href="https://eol.org/docs/what-is-eol/whats-new">here is a summary of changes<br></a><br></div></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class='footer'> <ul class='footer-section footer-section-eol-info'> <li><a href="/docs/what-is-eol">What is EOL?</a></li> <li><a href="/docs/what-is-eol/whats-new">What's New?</a></li> <li><a href="http://discuss.eol.org">The EOL Forum</a></li> <li><a href="https://education.eol.org">Education</a></li> <li><a href="/docs/what-is-eol/citing-eol-and-eol-content">Citing EOL</a></li> <li><a href="/docs/what-is-eol/terms-of-use">Terms of Use</a></li> <li><a href="/docs/what-is-eol/data-services">Data Services</a></li> <li><a href="/docs/discover/food-webs">Food Webs</a></li> <li><a href="/docs/what-is-eol/language-support">Language Support</a></li> <li><a href="/docs/what-is-eol/donate">Donate</a></li> <li><a href="http://discuss.eol.org/t/contact-us-at-eol/181">Contact Us</a></li> </ul> <ul class='footer-section footer-section-discover'> <li><a href="/docs/discover/animals">Animals</a></li> <li><a href="/docs/discover/mammals">Mammals</a></li> <li><a href="/docs/discover/birds">Birds</a></li> <li><a href="/docs/discover/amphibians">Amphibians</a></li> <li><a href="/docs/discover/reptiles">Reptiles</a></li> <li><a href="/docs/discover/fishes">Fishes</a></li> <li><a href="/docs/discover/invertebrates">Invertebrates</a></li> <li><a href="/docs/discover/crustaceans">Crustaceans</a></li> <li><a href="/docs/discover/mollusks">Mollusks</a></li> <li><a href="/docs/discover/insects">Insects</a></li> <li><a href="/docs/discover/spiders">Spiders</a></li> <li><a href="/docs/discover/worms">Worms</a></li> <li><a href="/docs/discover/plants">Plants</a></li> <li><a href="/docs/discover/flowering-plants">Flowering Plants</a></li> <li><a href="/docs/discover/trees">Trees</a></li> <li><a href="/docs/discover/fungi">Fungi</a></li> <li><a href="/docs/discover/mushrooms">Mushrooms</a></li> <li><a href="/docs/discover/molds">Molds</a></li> <li><a href="/docs/discover/bacteria">Bacteria</a></li> <li><a href="/docs/discover/algae">Algae</a></li> <li><a href="/docs/discover/protists-or-protozoa">Protists</a></li> <li><a href="/docs/discover/archaea">Archaea</a></li> <li><a href="/docs/discover/viruses">Viruses</a></li> </ul> <div class='footer-section footer-section-nmnh'> <a href="https://naturalhistory.si.edu/research/eol"><div class='nmnh-header'>EOL is hosted by:</div> <img class="nmnh-logo" src="/assets/nmnh_logo_bw-72cc01336737d61fba9c8c5cda8e2f549bd19ae44f2b0568a236f378761d53b3.png" /> </a></div> </div> </body> </html>