[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"question:98:en-US":3},{"metadata":4,"sys":15,"fields":35},{"tags":5,"concepts":14},[6,11],{"sys":7},{"type":8,"linkType":9,"id":10},"Link","Tag","global",{"sys":12},{"type":8,"linkType":9,"id":13},"land",[],{"space":16,"id":20,"type":21,"createdAt":22,"updatedAt":23,"environment":24,"publishedVersion":28,"revision":29,"contentType":30,"locale":34},{"sys":17},{"type":8,"linkType":18,"id":19},"Space","ghhpjogyw4x7","76cb290ee998b6754c23866b13d9838c","Entry","2022-01-03T14:26:43.353Z","2023-11-27T09:05:44.012Z",{"sys":25},{"id":26,"type":8,"linkType":27},"master","Environment",249,14,{"sys":31},{"type":8,"linkType":32,"id":33},"ContentType","question","en-US",{"globalId":36,"answers":37,"answersAsImages":58,"wrongPercentage":94,"name":95,"questionText":96,"statistics":97,"veryWrongStatistics":99,"correctSentence":101,"youWereWrong":102,"youWereRight":103,"dataSourceShortText":104,"dataSourceLinkLongText":105,"extendedAnswerText":106,"headingVeryWrong":107,"youWereVeryWrong":102,"headingWrong":107},"98",[38,60,77],{"metadata":39,"sys":42,"fields":55},{"tags":40,"concepts":41},[],[],{"space":43,"id":45,"type":21,"createdAt":46,"updatedAt":47,"environment":48,"publishedVersion":50,"revision":51,"contentType":52,"locale":34},{"sys":44},{"type":8,"linkType":18,"id":19},"f6087d1953a5c9f72774a0255237e06c","2022-01-03T13:56:25.005Z","2023-10-11T08:24:21.349Z",{"sys":49},{"id":26,"type":8,"linkType":27},10,6,{"sys":53},{"type":8,"linkType":32,"id":54},"answer",{"globalId":56,"correctAnswer":57,"isVeryWrong":58,"answerText":59},"98-a1",true,false,"Around 5%",{"metadata":61,"sys":64,"fields":74},{"tags":62,"concepts":63},[],[],{"space":65,"id":67,"type":21,"createdAt":68,"updatedAt":69,"environment":70,"publishedVersion":50,"revision":51,"contentType":72,"locale":34},{"sys":66},{"type":8,"linkType":18,"id":19},"bdba377ad1dc836da318cefda074dfcb","2022-01-03T13:56:30.484Z","2023-10-11T08:24:21.309Z",{"sys":71},{"id":26,"type":8,"linkType":27},{"sys":73},{"type":8,"linkType":32,"id":54},{"globalId":75,"correctAnswer":58,"isVeryWrong":58,"answerText":76},"98-a2","Around 25%",{"metadata":78,"sys":81,"fields":91},{"tags":79,"concepts":80},[],[],{"space":82,"id":84,"type":21,"createdAt":85,"updatedAt":86,"environment":87,"publishedVersion":50,"revision":51,"contentType":89,"locale":34},{"sys":83},{"type":8,"linkType":18,"id":19},"ca198da648386cb67d52086e23ab3c5f","2022-01-03T13:56:35.505Z","2023-10-11T08:24:21.268Z",{"sys":88},{"id":26,"type":8,"linkType":27},{"sys":90},{"type":8,"linkType":32,"id":54},{"globalId":92,"correctAnswer":58,"isVeryWrong":57,"answerText":93},"98-a3","Around 50%",82,"Share of wild mammals","When counting the total body weight of all mammals in the world, roughly how much comes from wild mammals?",[98],"uk 0.825",[100],"uk 0.553","In terms of weight, just 5% of all mammals in the world are in the wild.","When you think of animals, you imagine them roaming in the wild. You don't realize how huge meat production is.","They imagine most animals roaming in the wild, and they don't realize how huge meat production is.","Source: The Global Biomass of Wild Mammals (2023)","The original source of this question was a 2018 paper from Yinon M. Bar-On, Rob Phillips, and Ron Milo[2] which estimated the biomass of all living things on earth in gigatons of carbon (Gt C). In total, all mammals on Earth weigh 0.167 gigatons of carbon and of this around 4% came from wild animals, around 36% came from humans, and around 60% came from livestock.\n\nThe researchers used various sources and calculated the biomass of each group of mammals by multiplying the carbon stock for a single organism by the number of individuals in that group. For example, for humans, they calculated the average carbon quantity of a person and multiplied that by the human population.\n\nIn 2023, another paper was published by Bar-On, Milo and others [1]. This paper estimated the biomass of terrestrial wild mammals at 20 million tonnes and wild marine mammals at 40 million tonnes. In total, they estimated the biomass of all mammals on earth to be around 1.08 billion tonnes. This means wild mammals account for around 5.5% of the biomass of all mammals on Earth. \n\nThere are of course uncertainties in any biomass calculation on this scale. As the researchers highlight in their paper, the largest uncertainties are with marine species and other taxonomies that have smaller and fragmented samples. \n\nWe consulted three independent experts for this question, who all agreed that the source and figures we use are reliable and trusted and we should not hesitate to use them to understand the scale of different mammals’ weight.\n\n[1]  [The Global Biomass of Wild Mammals (2023) - Greenspoon L, Krieger E, Sender R, Rosenberg Y, Bar-On YM, Moran U, Antman T, Meiri S, Roll U, Noor E, Milo R.](ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\u002Fpmc\u002Farticles\u002FPMC10013851\u002F)\n\n[2]  [The Biomass Distribution on Earth (2018) - Yinon M. Bar-On, Rob Phillips, Ron Milo](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.pnas.org\u002Fcontent\u002F115\u002F25\u002F6506)\n\n[3]  [Our World in Data - The distribution of all global biomass](https:\u002F\u002Fourworldindata.org\u002Flife-on-earth#humans-account-for-just-0-01-of-biomass)\n\n[4]  For this question we consulted three independent experts, including Luca Borger of Swansea University and Jonathan Loh of the University of Kent.","More than half of the weight of all mammals in the world can be accounted for by livestock and farm animals, like cows and pigs. When we think of wild animals like lions and tigers or giant elephants and whales, it can be hard to imagine that more than 90% of the biomass of all mammals in the world comes from domestic animals, and from humans.\n\nMost people completely underestimate the huge amount of animals that are raised to be eaten or used for other agricultural purposes. If people were more aware how small a share of the world’s biomass wild animals are perhaps they would be more concerned with protecting nature.\n\n### Why are people wrong about this?\nWe don't know, but maybe the overestimation of wild animals is because \nthe number of wild species is so large. People easily recall the short list of common farm animals, like cows and pigs, but when it comes to wild animals they know there are thousands of fascinating wild species. It's hard to imagine that the rich variation in the wild makes up a tiny fraction of the total body weight, compared to a few well known domestic animal species.\n\n### Why is it a problem that people are wrong about this?\nIf people assume there's great abundance of animals in the wild, they probably don't realize the need for more environmental protection. Also, in overestimating the share of wild animals people are probably underestimating the share of livestock (around 60% of all mammals’ biomass) and not realizing the full scale of meat production and farming. Humans, meanwhile, make up 36% of all mammals' biomass.\n\n### Can I trust this data?\n\nYes, you can. It is important to understand that the number refers to the weight of mammals, including humans, and not the number of individual animals.\n\nWe spoke to three different independent experts who all agreed that this estimate is probably correct.","Born to be eaten"]