This summer, the children of franceinfo junior are playing explorers. Thursday, July 28, they follow an exploration mission in search of new species. To talk about it: Line Le Gall, head of the scientific exploration delegation at the National Museum of Natural History, who coordinates this program.
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Nearly 1.8 million species have already been described on the planet: insects, animals, plants, but there are still many more to discover. This is the mission of the “Planète revisitée” program. The latest expedition took the scientists to Corsica. We talk about it with the guest of the day: Line Le Gall, head of the scientific exploration delegation at the Museum of Natural History, who coordinates this program. Aïcha, 11, and Axel, 10 ask her questions.
Aïcha asks the first question: “Why are we trying to find every animal in the world?” The opportunity for the guest to recall that it is estimated that only 20% of biodiversity has been discovered: “We imagine that there are about eight to ten million” yet to be discovered. “To be able to preserve this biodiversity, you have to know it”continues Line Le Gall.
Axel then wonders about the methods of the scientists and Aïcha remarks: “How do you take pictures of them and see them? Every time I approach an animal, it runs!” she wonders.
“How do you come up with a name for a new animal?”, continues Axel. Once found and named, these species must be listed: “Do you have a base to put all your animals and bugs?” he wants to know.
“This is exactly the function of a museum like the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, explains Line Le Gall. We will store everything we have collected there and we have databases that allow people around the world to access it.
On this page, re-listen in full to this franceinfo junior program on the “Planète revisitée” expedition program.