What are the real chances
of seeing wildlife?
We calculate sighting probabilities from millions of real observations
Where the data comes from
Every number on Where Wildlife comes from real observations made by real people — birdwatchers, biologists, park rangers, and nature lovers who record what they see in the wild.
All this data is aggregated by GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility) — the world's largest open biodiversity data portal, with over 2.6 billion records from institutions and citizen scientists across 200 countries.
How we show it
For each species in each park, we estimate your chance of seeing it from real GBIF observations: how often it's recorded relative to its whole group (birds, mammals, reptiles…), calibrated against known sighting rates so it reflects what you'd actually experience. Probabilities are always shown rounded to the nearest 10% (e.g. "~40%") with a plain-language word, because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimal precision:
<5%With luck
5–20%Possible
20–40%Likely
40–70%Very likely
>70%
When to look
Probabilities change throughout the year. We show you the best months for each species so you can plan your visit:
This species peaks in April (~80%) — real, current data for Corcovado National Park.
We also show you the best hours of the day to spot each species — so you know whether to wake up early or head out at dusk:
All together in a species card
Every species gets its own card with photo, conservation status, activity pattern, and probability — so you know exactly what to expect:
Scarlet Macaw
Ara macao
Where Wildlife Score
Each park gets a 0–5 star score based on two things: how rich its wildlife is (Biodiversity) and how likely you are to actually see it (Sighting). Below, the real, current score of Corcovado National Park — the same panel you'll find on every park page:
Click each category to see the full breakdown — this is the live panel, identical to every park page:
Biodiversity
Very goodHow rich is the wildlife?
Sighting
ExcellentHow likely to see animals?