More emojis please: how limited animal, plant and fungus symbols could hinder conservation efforts and online conversations

Earth is teeming with millions of fungi species, yet the official emoji library only represents one: Amanita muscaria, the red-capped, white-spotted mushroom commonly found in fairy-tale books and Super Mario Brothers video games.

Similarly, an astounding 180,000 species of butterflies and moths inhabit our planet, but their sole emoji representation is a generic blue butterfly that resembles a spring break tattoo. According to a team of ecologists, there is a biodiversity crisis in our phones. They have conducted the most comprehensive survey to date of the flora and fauna of Emojipedia, the global directory of pictograms recognised by the international Unicode Standard.

These small images fuel a significant amount of global conversation. The ecologists argue in a new paper that when the diversity of emojis is limited, so too is the scope of the natural world that we can discuss, advocate for, and ultimately protect. Stefano Mammola, an ecologist who specialises in subterranean biology and a co-author of the paper, stated that the conservation of biodiversity can only progress with the participation and support of society at large. He emphasised the need for effective communication. In essence, if the world communicates in emojis, emojis should accurately reflect the world.