# GBIF API beginners guide - GBIF Data Blog
**URL:** https://discourse.gbif.org/t/gbif-api-beginners-guide-gbif-data-blog/2991
**Category:** Data blog
**Created:** [August 11, 2021, 9:19am UTC](https://discourse.gbif.org/t/gbif-api-beginners-guide-gbif-data-blog/2991 "2021-08-11T09:19:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@dodobot](https://discourse.gbif.org/u/dodobot)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2021, 9:19am UTC](https://discourse.gbif.org/t/gbif-api-beginners-guide-gbif-data-blog/2991/1 "2021-08-11T09:19:01Z")
This a **GBIF API** beginners guide.
The GBIF API technical documentation can be found [here](https://www.gbif.org/developer/summary). This documentation is nice, but you might be a bit confusing if you have never used an API before. This guide is will walk you through how to begin using the GBIF API from a non-technical perspective.
* * *
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at [https://data-blog.gbif.org/post/gbif-api-beginners-guide/](https://data-blog.gbif.org/post/gbif-api-beginners-guide/)
---
### Author:  [@dnoesgaard](https://discourse.gbif.org/u/dnoesgaard)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2021, 8:09am UTC](https://discourse.gbif.org/t/gbif-api-beginners-guide-gbif-data-blog/2991/2 "2021-09-09T08:09:09Z")
---
### Author:  [@dnoesgaard](https://discourse.gbif.org/u/dnoesgaard)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2021, 8:09am UTC](https://discourse.gbif.org/t/gbif-api-beginners-guide-gbif-data-blog/2991/3 "2021-09-09T08:09:50Z")
---
### Author:  [@dnoesgaard](https://discourse.gbif.org/u/dnoesgaard)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2021, 8:10am UTC](https://discourse.gbif.org/t/gbif-api-beginners-guide-gbif-data-blog/2991/4 "2021-09-09T08:10:02Z")
---
### Author:  [@mgrosjean](https://discourse.gbif.org/u/mgrosjean)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2021, 8:11am UTC](https://discourse.gbif.org/t/gbif-api-beginners-guide-gbif-data-blog/2991/5 "2021-09-09T08:11:14Z")
Thanks John! I think this will be very useful for users who would like to start with the API
---
### Author:  [@andre](https://discourse.gbif.org/u/andre)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2021, 8:36am UTC](https://discourse.gbif.org/t/gbif-api-beginners-guide-gbif-data-blog/2991/6 "2021-09-17T08:36:10Z")
Thanks for this GBIF API teaser. Hoping it will attract more users to discover this wonderful tool. I would have added some Python/Pandas/Jupyter examples… People should know how easy it is to query GBIF API and get their results instantaneously. All Nodes managers should try it.
---
### Author:  [@mgrosjean](https://discourse.gbif.org/u/mgrosjean)
#### Post date: [November 2, 2021, 12:28pm UTC](https://discourse.gbif.org/t/gbif-api-beginners-guide-gbif-data-blog/2991/7 "2021-11-02T12:28:18Z")
You can now write and run your JSON-formatted download queries directly from [GBIF.org](http://GBIF.org): [https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/download/request](https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/download/request)
This is a great way to use the API without having to learn a (new) programming language. You don’t need to use R or Python or another client nor do you need to worry about headers or logins.
---
### Author:  [@sharif.islam](https://discourse.gbif.org/u/sharif.islam)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2021, 8:29am UTC](https://discourse.gbif.org/t/gbif-api-beginners-guide-gbif-data-blog/2991/8 "2021-11-23T08:29:26Z")
Hi,
Thanks for this post, very helpful.
Is it possible to get the " TAXON IDENTIFIERS" through the API? For instance, here [https://api.gbif.org/v1/species/5285385](https://api.gbif.org/v1/species/5285385) I don’t see all the identifiers that are listed here [Pinus mugo Turra](https://www.gbif.org/species/5285385).
---
### Author:  [@mgrosjean](https://discourse.gbif.org/u/mgrosjean)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2021, 9:35am UTC](https://discourse.gbif.org/t/gbif-api-beginners-guide-gbif-data-blog/2991/9 "2021-11-25T09:35:05Z")
We pull these identifiers from Wikidata: [Pinus mugo - Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q147475) (you can access the data in JSON: [https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Special:EntityData/Q147475.json](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Special:EntityData/Q147475.json))