7 Lesser-Known Science Facts That Will Leave You Pondering Life - Page 5 of 9

New Day, New Discoveries

Thousands of new animals are still being discovered every single day. By “discovered,” we mean “given a formal scientific name and description.” In addition to direct field work, there are literally millions of unnamed specimens (mostly insects and marine invertebrates, plus a large number of small fish) in bottles and drawers in research institutions and museums of natural history around the world. From those sources, the number of new animal species being “discovered” is about 1–2 new species described per day.