N° 001
Vol. I
Kingdom Animalia
Linnaeus, 1758
~7,700,000 species
and counting
Every animal
on Earth. One kingdom.
Onimalia is an ode to the animal kingdom. From a 0.14 mm fairyfly to a 30 m blue whale, and every creature in between.
- Panthera leo
- Orcinus orca
- Apis mellifera
- Balaenoptera musculus
- Octopus vulgaris
- Equus quagga
- Aptenodytes forsteri
- Ailuropoda melanoleuca
- Hippocampus kuda
- Falco peregrinus
- Loxodonta africana
- Ursus maritimus
- Danaus plexippus
- Giraffa camelopardalis
(01) — The numbers
A kingdom mostly unmet.
7.7M
Animal species estimated to be alive on Earth today.
1.5M
Species described and named by science so far.
80%
Still unnamed. Most of the kingdom has never been met.
~35
Phyla. Every basic body plan, from sponges to us.
(02) — The index
Who’s who.
Described species by group, bars drawn to scale. Mammals, us included, are under half a percent of the named kingdom.
- 01
Insects
Insectae.g. Apis mellifera
≈ 1,000,000
- 02
Arachnids
Arachnidae.g. Latrodectus mactans
≈ 110,000
- 03
Molluscs
Molluscae.g. Octopus vulgaris
≈ 85,000
- 04
Crustaceans
Crustaceae.g. Homarus gammarus
≈ 67,000
- 05
Fishes
Piscese.g. Hippocampus kuda
≈ 36,000
- 06
Reptiles
Reptiliae.g. Chelonia mydas
≈ 12,000
- 07
Birds
Avese.g. Falco peregrinus
≈ 11,000
- 08
Cnidarians
Cnidariae.g. Aurelia aurita
≈ 11,000
- 09
Amphibians
Amphibiae.g. Ambystoma mexicanum
≈ 8,700
- 10
Mammals
Mammaliae.g. Homo sapiens
≈ 6,500
(03) — Monochrome
Nature drew in black & white first.
Camouflage, warning, confusion. Some of the most striking animals alive never needed colour.
- 01
Plains zebra
Equus quagga
No two coats alike. The stripes confuse biting flies, which struggle to land on them.
- 02
Orca
Orcinus orca
The largest dolphin. Dark from above, pale from below, hard to see from either.
- 03
Giant panda
Ailuropoda melanoleuca
White to vanish in snow, black to vanish in shade. Camouflage for two seasons.
- 04
Emperor penguin
Aptenodytes forsteri
Black back against the deep, white belly against the ice. Countershading, perfected.
- 05
Malayan tapir
Tapirus indicus
A pale saddle that breaks its outline apart on moonlit forest floors.
- 06
Striped skunk
Mephitis mephitis
Maximum contrast as a warning. One look is usually enough to keep away.
(04) — Records
The extremes.
389km/h
Peregrine falcon
Falco peregrinus
The fastest animal alive, clocked in a hunting dive known as a stoop.
30metres
Blue whale
Balaenoptera musculus
The largest animal known to have ever lived, bigger than any dinosaur.
~400years
Greenland shark
Somniosus microcephalus
The longest-lived vertebrate known. Some swimming today are older than the United States.
70,900km
Arctic tern
Sterna paradisaea
Its average yearly migration, pole to pole and back. No animal sees more daylight.
3hearts
Common octopus
Octopus vulgaris
Three hearts, blue blood, and two thirds of its neurons out in its arms.
10days
Tardigrade
Milnesium tardigradum
Survived ten days exposed to open space in 2007. Then carried on as if nothing happened.
(05) — Taxonomy
How to name
a wolf.
Seven ranks, two words. Since Linnaeus in 1758, every animal on Earth gets an address like this one.
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumChordata
- ClassMammalia
- OrderCarnivora
- FamilyCanidae
- GenusCanis
- SpeciesCanis lupus
= Grey wolf
(06) — Coda
Know them.
Name them.
Keep them.
More than a quarter of assessed mammal species are threatened with extinction. Knowing an animal by name is where protecting it begins.