diff --git a/interfaces/cython/cantera/examples/kinetics/mechanism_reduction.py b/interfaces/cython/cantera/examples/kinetics/mechanism_reduction.py
new file mode 100644
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+++ b/interfaces/cython/cantera/examples/kinetics/mechanism_reduction.py
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+"""
+A simplistic approach to mechanism reduction which demonstrates Cantera's
+features for dynamically manipulating chemical mechanisms.
+
+Here, we use the full GRI 3.0 mechanism to simulate adiabatic, constant pressure
+ignition of a lean methane/air mixture. We track the maximum reaction rates for
+each reaction to determine which reactions are the most important, according to
+a simple metric based on the relative net reaction rate.
+
+We then create a sequence of reduced mechanisms including only the top reactions
+and the associated species, and run the simulations again with these mechanisms
+to see whether the reduced mechanisms with a certain number of species are able
+to adequately simulate the ignition delay problem.
+"""
+
+import cantera as ct
+import numpy as np
+import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
+
+gas = ct.Solution('gri30.xml')
+initial_state = 1200, 5 * ct.one_atm, 'CH4:0.35, O2:1.0, N2:3.76'
+
+# Run a simulation with the full mechanism
+gas.TPX = initial_state
+r = ct.IdealGasConstPressureReactor(gas)
+sim = ct.ReactorNet([r])
+
+tt = []
+TT = []
+t = 0.0
+# Rmax is the maximum relative reaction rate at any timestep
+Rmax = np.zeros(gas.n_reactions)
+while t < 0.02:
+    t = sim.step(1.0)
+    tt.append(1000 * t)
+    TT.append(r.T)
+    rnet = abs(gas.net_rates_of_progress)
+    rnet /= max(rnet)
+    Rmax = np.maximum(Rmax, rnet)
+
+plt.plot(tt, TT, label='K=53, R=325', color='k', lw=3, zorder=100)
+
+# Get the reaction objects, and sort them so the most active reactions are first
+R = [(Rmax[i],gas.reaction(i)) for i in range(gas.n_reactions)]
+R.sort(key=lambda x: -x[0])
+
+# Test reduced mechanisms with different numbers of reactions
+C = plt.cm.winter(np.linspace(0,1,5))
+for i,N in enumerate([40,50,60,70,80]):
+    # Get the N most active reactions
+    reactions = [r[1] for r in R[:N]]
+
+    # find the species involved in these reactions. At a minimum, include all
+    # species in the reactant mixture
+    species_names = {'N2', 'CH4', 'O2'}
+    for reaction in reactions:
+        species_names.update(reaction.reactants)
+        species_names.update(reaction.products)
+
+    # Get the species objects
+    species = [gas.species(name) for name in species_names]
+
+    # create the new reduced mechanism
+    gas2 = ct.Solution(thermo='IdealGas', kinetics='GasKinetics',
+                       species=species, reactions=reactions)
+
+    # Re-run the ignition problem with the reduced mechanism
+    gas2.TPX = initial_state
+    r = ct.IdealGasConstPressureReactor(gas2)
+    sim = ct.ReactorNet([r])
+
+    t = 0.0
+
+    tt = []
+    TT = []
+    while t < 0.02:
+        t = sim.step(1.0)
+        tt.append(1000 * t)
+        TT.append(r.T)
+
+    plt.plot(tt,TT, lw=2, color=C[i],
+             label='K={0}, R={1}'.format(gas2.n_species, N))
+    plt.xlabel('Time (ms)')
+    plt.ylabel('Temperature (K)')
+    plt.legend(loc='upper left')
+    plt.title('Reduced mechanism ignition delay times\n'
+              'K: number of species; R: number of reactions')
+    plt.xlim(0, 20)
+    plt.tight_layout()
+
+plt.show()