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2023-09-13 · 100% of mammal biomass

Wild mammals are a rounding error

Weigh every mammal on Earth. Livestock take most of the mass. Humans take most of the rest. Everything that still lives wild — whales, deer, rats, bats — shares the last sliver.

1 cell = 1.1 million tonnes of wet mammal biomass (0.1% of mammal biomass) · 1,000 cells

Wild mammals are a rounding error. Weigh every mammal on Earth. Livestock take most of the mass. Humans take most of the rest. Everything that still lives wild — whales, deer, rats, bats — shares the last sliver.

Context

Weigh every mammal on Earth. Livestock take most of the mass. Humans take most of the rest. Everything that still lives wild — whales, deer, rats, bats — shares the last sliver.

Greenspoon et al. 2023 (PNAS): livestock ≈630 million tonnes, humans ≈390 million tonnes, wild mammals ≈60 million tonnes (about 20 land + 40 marine). Shares rounded onto 1,000 equal cells. This grid is mass, not headcount — one blue square is the same tonnes as one orange square.

Greenspoon et al. 2023 (PNAS): livestock ≈630 million tonnes, humans ≈390 million tonnes, wild mammals ≈60 million tonnes (about 20 land + 40 marine). Shares rounded onto 1,000 equal cells. This grid is mass, not headcount — one blue square is the same tonnes as one orange square.

  • Greenspoon et al., The global biomass of wild mammals, PNAS 2023
  • Our World in Data — wild mammal biomass

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