This Map Shows Every Country’s National Animal And Their Conservation Status
Honestly, who cares about national flags, flowers, colours or foods – it’s all about the national animals. Whether it’s a cute-as-hell critter or a mythical creature, this map of the world shows the national animal of every country as well as its conservation status.
[related_articles]73328,72647,69986[/related_articles]The team at Voucherland created the map, and the results are cute and a bit surprising. See the full-size version here or here.
Mammals seem to be the world’s fave, with 120 countries picking one as their national animal. Birds are the next most popular, with 52 on the map, and mythological creatures come in third with seven countries choosing a made up animal as their national symbol. Go off, Scotland‘s unicorn and the Welsh dragon.
View this post on Instagram
I, for one, embrace our new mythical overlords and would like to welcome Australia‘s new national animal to the stage: good morning to the drop bear and only to the drop bear.
But back to reality and our actual national animal – the map ranks the Australian kangaroo’s conservation status at “least concern”. Others, like Algeria’s fennec fox, Botswana‘s zebra, Greece‘s dolphin and Italy‘s grey wolf are equally safe, but some animals aren’t so lucky.
[related_articles]69356,69405,73876[/related_articles]
Of 168 wild natural animals, 38 are threatened in some way with a conservation status of extinct, critically endangered or endangered. New Zealand‘s kiwi, Rwanda’s leopard and Bangladesh’s royal Bengal tiger are all in danger of becoming extinct, like Mauritius’ dodo already is.
A further 48 are vulnerable, meaning their numbers are likely to drop if we don’t take action to protect them. Ten of the world’s national animals are domesticated, like Nepal‘s cow and Spain‘s bull.
With so many animals endangered or at risk of being endangered, it’s heartening to see the efforts that are being taken across the world to protect them. Earlier this year, Taronga Zoo welcomed three adorable tiger cubs, and a baby black rhino named Kamara was just born in the United States.
(Lead image: Voucherland)
