How much of Earth's life is still undiscovered?

September 30, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

A new cat species was discovered in a Bolivian cloud forest—the first feline species found in over a century—after someone took what they thought was a kitten home. When it didn't grow, they brought it to a wildlife sanctuary, where DNA sequencing revealed it was actually Leopardus tilkayo. Around the same time, scientists identified a new penguin species on the remote Desolation Islands in the sub-Antarctic, also the first in a hundred years. These discoveries feel rare and newsworthy, but they are just the visible tip of a much larger, ongoing process: scientists are currently discovering and describing more species than at any point in human history.

The scale of discovery

John Wiens, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona, published a study showing that about 15% of all known animal species have been discovered in just the past 20 years. Every year, scientists describe roughly 16,000 new species—including hundreds of new fish, about a hundred new amphibians, and a similar number of new reptiles, especially lizards and snakes. The vast majority are less photogenic than the spotted cat: invertebrates living in the ocean, in soil, or inside other organisms. Since the 1700s, when Carl Linnaeus created the classification system still used today, scientists have formally described about 2.5 million species. That sounds like a lot—roug

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What you'll learn

1 (00:26) **New Species Discoveries in the Headlines** - Hosts discuss the viral story of a new cat species (Leopardus tilkaio) discovered in Bolivia and a new penguin species found in the sub-Antarctic, both firsts in a century.
2 (01:50) **The Surprising Pace of Discovery** - John Wiens, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, reveals that about 15% of all known animal species have been discovered in the last 20 years.
3 (02:52) **The Poorly Known Planet** - The hosts frame the central question: how much life on Earth remains undiscovered? The episode will explore efforts to genetically catalogue all living things.
4 (04:44) **Why So Many Species Go Unnoticed** - Most new species are small, unphotogenic invertebrates or microscopic organisms, not charismatic megafauna.
5 (06:10) **The "World Within Worlds" Hypothesis** - John Wiens explains that a huge portion of undiscovered biodiversity is microbial life living inside insects.
6 (07:27) **The Earth Biogenome Project** - The hosts introduce Harris Lewin, former co-chair of the project, which aims to sequence the genome of every known eukaryotic organism on Earth.
7 (08:35) **Practical Uses for a Genetic Archive** - Genomes can aid conservation, from cloning endangered ferrets to identifying climate-resilient corals and distinguishing cryptic species.

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Show Notes

If you, like us, clicked on the cute cat photos posted everywhere recently, announcing the discovery of the first new cat species in more than a century, you might have wondered how rare it is to find a new species. Turns out, it’s not! We live in an era of “unprecedented” discovery, says John Wiens, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona. And scientists say we’re still just scratching at the surface of how much life exists on Earth.

Interested in more science in the news? Email us your question at [email protected].

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