‘Rare finds’: Dubai residents discover 1,300 wild plants, animals in 4 days

The Dubai edition of a global challenge recorded over 1,300 wild plants, animals, and fungi — including rare species — over four days. Residents and visitors came together to document the city’s rich natural heritage, contributing to a worldwide effort to catalogue urban biodiversity.

The initiative was part of the City Nature Challenge 2025, which this year marked a decade of global collaboration for biodiversity. Launched by the California Academy of Sciences and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County in 2015, the challenge is now one of the largest citizen science events in the world.

The 2025 edition saw participation from 669 cities across 62 countries, culminating in a record-breaking 3.3 million observations of wild plants, animals, and fungi. More than 103,000 people took part in the effort.

Terra at Expo City Dubai served as the host and organiser of the Dubai edition. This marked the first year that Dubai — and the UAE — participated in the global challenge. The results of the four-day event (April 25–28) were announced recently.

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The challenge brought together seasoned naturalists and first-time observers through a series of guided walks and bioblitzes, focusing on different urban habitats and species. Highlights from various sites included:

• Terra: Salmon Arab butterflies, white-eared bulbuls, and purple sunbirds

• Al Marmoom Desert: Nocturnal creatures such as scorpions, desert geckos, and beetles

• Dubai Parks and Resorts: Wetland species near the pond, with sightings of damselflies, slender skimmers, and blue butterflies

• Bioblitz at Terra: Documentation of various insects, birds, and butterflies

Out of the 1,371 observations recorded in Dubai, some of the rarest finds included:

Comsobuthus arabicus by Andrew Gardner

Middle Eastern short-fingered gecko by Rohail Akbar

Arabian gazelle by Rohail Akbar

Arabian honeybee by Georgina Pereira

Arabian paper wasp by Georgina Pereira

Arabian red dwarf by Georgina Pereira

Blue-spotted salmon Arab by Georgina Pereira

Purple sunbird by Georgina Pereira

Sand gazelle by Anvar

Slender skimmer by Georgina Pereira

Tiger beetle by Andrew Gardner

Yellow-spotted agama by Phillip Dunn

Over the four-day period, residents were encouraged to observe any wild plant or animal and upload their sightings to the iNaturalist app.

“From the chirping of purple sunbirds to the quick scurry of sand geckos, the flutter of salmon Arab butterflies, or the rustle of miswak bushes, Dubai is teeming with life just waiting to be noticed. On rare occasions, you might even glimpse an Arabian red dwarf honeybee roaming the outskirts of the city,” organisers said at the time.

Arabella Willing, Head of Conservation Outreach & Citizen Science at Emirates Nature–WWF, said the initiative empowers people to become scientists in their own communities. “The data collected has real-world impact.”