I rarely use emojis in online conversations, and even when I do, I tend to use the same set of emojis so I don't really take notice of the rest. However, one scientist, Jennifer Anderson, an expert of aquatic fungi and a microbial ecologist, shared with two Italian ecologists, Stefano Mammola and Francesco Ficetola, her gripe with the lack of representation for other organisms, such as aquatic fungi, in emojis.
The thought captivated Mammola and Ficetola, so they set on a quest to find out just how many organisms from the tree of life are represented in emoji. Their findings, recently published on iScience, showed that there were 112 organisms depicted in emojis, based on the online catalogue of emojis, Emojipedia. Out of the 112, 92 were animals and 16 were plants.
These scientists assert that many endangered species lack awareness and attention from the general public, and that's even reflected in emojis. The idea is that if they can bring attention to organisms like the flatworm or arthropods, then conservation efforts may be given more attention.
Despite this, over the years, the scientists found that emoji biodiversity has been increasing. In 2015, only 45 animals were available as emojis, but in 2022, that figure rose to the 92 that they found from their study.
Whether or not having more emoji biodiversity will ramp up conservation efforts directly or indirectly is up for debate. Perhaps people may become curious about these organisms from emojis, and help raising awareness for them. That's if majority of the general public even use emojis in the first place.
(Image credit: Emojipedia/X)