A new study conducted by American and Canadian researchers shows that only a quarter of the estimated 8.8 million species have been discovered so far.
Boris Worm of Canada's Dalhousie University and Camilo Mora of the University of Hawaii used complex mathematical models and estimated the number of species at nearly 8.8 million.
Researchers believe about 6.5 million of species are on land and around 2.2 million of them live in the oceans, MSNBC reported.
"We are really fairly ignorant of the complexity and colorfulness of this amazing planet and we need to expose more people to those wonders. It really makes you feel differently about this place we inhabit," Worm stated.
Scientists have long believed that the Earth is much wilder than it seems and estimated the number of undiscovered creatures between 3 and 100 million.
As some modern medicine comes from unusual plants and animals and the unknown species are considered to have potential benefits, there is an urgent need to find them before they disappear from the planet, said Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson.
"We won't know the benefits to humanity (from these species), which potentially are enormous," the Pulitzer Prize-winning scientist stated.
To advance today's medical science, it is essential to know more about what is in the environment, he added.
If the recently estimated number of species is correct it means that we should spend the next 400 or 500 years trying to document the species that actually inhabit our planet, said Encyclopedia of Life executive director Erick Mata.
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