Biomassive

Open edition

Archival Giclée print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag

6 x 8in (15x20cm)

Livestock outweighs wild mammals and birds ten-fold

Humans comprise a tiny share of life on Earth — 0.01% of the total and 2.5% of animal biomass (animal biomass is shown in the right-hand box on the visualization above).

But we are also responsible for the animals we raise. Humans alone may seem insignificant, but our hunger for raising livestock means we have played a major role in shifting the balance of animal life: livestock account for 4% of animal biomass.4

Livestock accounts for more biomass than all humans on Earth, more than 50% greater than humans.

And livestock accounts for much more than all wildlife: Wild mammals and birds collectively account for only 0.38% — livestock, therefore, outweighs wild mammals and birds by a factor of ten.5

Block colour print taken from the incredible work of Hannah Richie and team at Our World in Data

https://ourworldindata.org/life-on-earth