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Emojis Don’t Adequately Represent Biodiversity, Finds Research

A team of conservation scientists recently surveyed a set of emojis and found they did not fully represent natural biodiversity. The team published the results of their analysis in the scientific journal iScience. In the face of the current biodiversity crisis, the scientists hope these findings will inspire the creation of more diverse natural emojis and inspire awareness for Conservation.

The team categorized all of the animal and nature emojis from the online emoji catalog Emojipedia. There, they identified one hundred and twelve emojis representing either animals or other natural organisms. They identified 92 animals, 16 plants, one fungus, and one microorganism. Then, the team mapped these emojis out on a phylogenetic tree of life. This organizational tool sorted the different emojis into categories based on taxonomic divisions.

The team found that animals were well represented by diverse emojis, while other natural beings were underrepresented. For example, there is only one mushroom emoji. However, estimates state that there are up to 5.1 million species of fungi on the planet. This shows one way in which available emojis do not adequately represent biodiversity. The researchers’ results mirror widespread awareness about biodiversity. Typically, biodiversity awareness centers animals over other organisms – particularly vertebrate animals.

The majority of animals represented by emojis were vertebrates. Seventy-six percent of animal emojis were representations of vertebrates. After vertebrates, the second largest animal group represented were arthropods. Sixteen percent of emojis were representations of arthropods. These percentages mean that available emojis drastically overrepresent vertebrates when compared to arthropods and other types of animals. According to the study, there are 1,302,809 species of arthropods versus only 85,423 species of vertebrates.

Researchers also investigated how nature-based emojis had developed between the years of 2015 and 2022. In that time, the number and types of animals represented by emojis increased. This represents a positive increase in biodiversity representation by emojis. However, researchers caution that there is still a long way to go. For example, at the time of the analysis publication, no emojis represented two large groups of animals, platyhelminths and nematodes.

One explanation for this is the criteria that determine how emojis are selected. Typically, a certain number of Google searches are required at a certain frequency. Sadly, many diverse organisms do not meet these criteria.

The researchers hope that the results of their analysis inspire increased opportunities for biodiversity communication. By adding more biodiverse emojis, it is possible that opportunities to draw awareness to often overlooked species could increase.

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