diff --git a/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Feature.pm b/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Feature.pm
index 17fc7dccfa95f80755a7d0f973fe182c04fd0616..6901d6cfcc2cd9bd5b25b9bb4d94df631873dd51 100644
--- a/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Feature.pm
+++ b/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Feature.pm
@@ -1442,7 +1442,21 @@ sub summary_as_hash {
   return \%summary;
 }
 
+=head2 species
 
+  Example			: $feature->species();
+  Description	: Shortcut to the feature's DBAdaptor and returns its species name 
+  Returntype 	: String the species name
+  Exceptions 	: Thrown if there is no attached adaptor
+  Caller      : Webcode
+
+=cut
+
+sub species {
+  my ($self) = @_;
+  throw "Can only call this method if you have attached an adaptor" if ! $self->adaptor();
+  reutrn $self->adaptor()->db()->species();
+}
 
 
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