diff --git a/deduplicateAndSort.py b/deduplicateAndSort.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c0e0bcf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/deduplicateAndSort.py
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+# Python code​​​​​​‌‌​​​‌‌‌‌‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌‌ below
+# Use print("messages...") to debug your solution.
+
+def prepare_list(animals): # animals is a list of strings 
+    # Your code goes here
+    # need to deduplicate this list, i have read that a set perserves unique records only
+    unique = set(animals)
+    sorted_set = sorted(unique)
+    return sorted_set