There are emojis showing all sorts of creatures, from bumblebees to otters to turtles . But when scientists analyzed the emoji dictionary “Emojipedia,” they found that the current lineup of 112 animal and nature emojis doesn’t accurately represent real-life biodiversity, or variety of living things.
The majority of the emojis are vertebrates, or animals with backbones, like mammals, birds, and fish. The shortage of other creatures, like insects and fungi, is “not fair,” says Stefano Mammola. He’s an ecologist at the Italian National Research Council who worked on the study. Emojis could help spread awareness about the huge number of species on Earth, he says. If Mammola could choose, he’d add emojis of moss, ferns, and a cute microscopic creature called a tardigrade.