“Problematic,” is how a team of biologists from the University of Milan described the apparently pitiful number of animal and plant emojis currently available for use. The number of animal icons has in fact doubled since 2015. But it is still not ambitious enough, according to this bunch of conservationists.

It may sound extreme but these researchers were deeply peeved by the discrepancy between species representation. For example, there are multiple emojis of bears but just one bald eagle emoji.

Vertebrates, they point out, are overrepresented whilst arthropods are underrepresented. Annelids were not represented at all........

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