There may be currently 3,782 emojis in the beloved Unicode library, yet a team of biologists has found its representation of the tree of life is significantly substandard.
Scientists from Italy’s National Research Council have taken the current animals and nature emojis – from snake to shark – and mapped them on the phylogenic tree of life that links all organisms. They found that plants, fungi, invertebrates and microorganisms were all poorly covered in cute digital form. And while vertebrates – often the most recognized species in the animal kingdom – were overrepresented, ‘underdogs’ like arthropods had little screen time compared to their actual diversity.
As such, they believe that a lack of emoji visibility makes it harder to have conservation efforts recognized in the real world.
"While the biodiversity crisis may seem distant from the online world, in our increasingly digitized society, we should not underestimate the potential of emojis to raise awareness and foster appreciation for the diversity of life on Earth," wrote Stefano Mammola, Mattia Falaschi, and Gentile Francesco Ficetola.
Vertebrates currently make up 76% of animal emojis, followed by arthropods including the lobster, spider and crab (16%), mollusks such as the snail (4%), cnidarians such as the jellyfish (2%) and annelids (1%). While arachnophobes might say there is definitely one too many arthropods in the emoji library, their digital diversity pales in comparison to the 1,302,809 described species currently found on Earth.
"The development and maintenance of diverse and inclusive emoji sets are crucial to ensure the equitable representation of the tree of life in digital communication tools and to effectively convey messages on the importance of all the organisms for the functioning of the biosphere,” they wrote in their study.
The trio has made a plea to the Unicode Consortium, the nonprofit organization that has the power to approve or veto proposed emojis, to boost and diversify its nature ranks – as of end of 2023, there are 92 animals, 16 plants, one fungus (Amanita muscaria, most likely) and one microorganism (Escherichia coli, it is believed).
"Currently available emojis encompass a broad range of animal species, while plants, fungi, and microorganisms are under-represented," the researchers write. "Such strong taxonomic bias is in line with current societal awareness of biodiversity, which tends to prioritize animals over other taxa.”
And it gets worse for the worm enthusiasts. While annelids entered emoji stardom in 2020 with the worm (most likely an earthworm), their close relatives the platyhelminths (flatworms) and nematodes (roundworms) have been ignored. There are more than 20,000 platyhelminth species and nearly 20,000 different nematodes on the planet.
While it may seem trivial, the biologists make a very good point: the biases towards ‘poster’ animals – namely, vertebrate mammals – mirrors the real world, with biodiversity assessments and conservation analyses favoring these more widely known and loved species.
The good news, however, is that emoji biodiversity looks to be increasing, slowly. In 2015, there were only 45 emojis representing different animal taxa; this increased to 78 in 2019, and then 92 in 2022.
"This increase in phylogenetic diversity driven by less-known taxa emphasizes a positive trend of enhanced opportunities for emojifying biodiversity communication, allowing users of digital platforms to discuss a range of biodiversity-related topics and sentiments more effectively, beyond the icons depicting iconic species," the researchers wrote.
The study was published in the journal iScience.
Source: National Research Council via phys.org
