this post was submitted on 15 Jul 2025
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I saw this infographic posted a few days ago and it's a bit misleading. The percentages are based on biomass, not population. I also don't remember what the original source is, and it looks like it got cropped off the one you posted here. If you remember the source, could you link it?
Oh I got it from here but I tracked it down with a Google search.
I can't say if this is the original source but maybe. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/21/human-race-just-001-of-all-life-but-has-destroyed-over-80-of-wild-mammals-study
Biomass VS population makes some sense though. Having a million ants would be sure, lots, but having a million elephants would be WTF wholy shit!
Yes, and combined with the data presented by OP, we can readily see that this absolutely does not need to be the case.
Combine these again with food waste data and you will see that the majority of those animals will be slaughtered only for the products made from them to wind up being thrown away without ever having been used. We (capitalist owners of industry) demand the slaughter of these animals en masse knowing full well that most of what comes from the act won't sell simply because there is a slim chance that it might sell, and we (society as a whole which has the capability of governance) have failed to make it cost prohibitive to do so. It's fucking disgusting.
There is absolutely no justification, other than to chase the profit incentive which I do not consider valid, for our practices in animal husbandry that have led to the overpopulation of certain species.
Yeah the picture doesn't really present the issue. The 60% livestock isn't comparable to wild life. It's much worse than that.
I could also say that 100% of bricks are man made and there are no wild bricks.
Similarly, live stock is a product, that shouldn't and wouldn't exist in the first place. It does not represent animals in a way that is comparable to wild life that have full lives.
The 60% livestock does not live long happy lives. It's constantly being replaced by new livestock.
So sure at any given moment there might be 60% mass of animals classified as livestock, but if we were to count the actual number of animals over a year, it would be closer to 100%.