Are wild mammals only 4% of the mammal population?

More or Less: Behind the Stats

BBC

Business, Mathematics, Science, News Commentary, News

4.6 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 28 January 2023

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A widely respected and cited study says humans and livestock account for 96% of all mammals on Earth. We ask how the study was carried out and what hope there might be for the future. Plus we answer another listener question about whether most mammals are in fact rodents. With the help of Dr Hannah Ritchie, Deputy Editor at Our World in Data and Dr Axel Rossberg, Reader in Theoretical Ecology at Queen Mary University of London.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Love, Genessa, a brand new true crime podcast
0:03.4	from the BBC World Service and CBC podcasts.
0:07.0	It's a story about love, deceit and survival,
0:10.2	and it's available now.
0:12.0	Find out more at the end of this podcast.
0:17.0	Thank you for downloading the More or Less podcast,
0:19.8	where you'll weekly guide to the numbers in the news,
0:22.2	and in life, and I'm Charlotte McDonald.
0:25.0	This week, we're talking about biodiversity
0:30.0	and the state of the natural world.
0:32.0	And in particular, a couple of questions pertaining to mammals.
0:36.0	Yes, mammals.
0:38.0	That's you and me and a host of other impressive
0:41.0	and wonderful creatures on this planet-weakle earth.
0:44.0	We've got two queries to get to.
0:46.0	Here's the first from Loyal Listener Matt.
0:48.0	I keep seeing the claim that of all mammals on earth,
0:51.0	96% are either livestock, including pets or humans.
0:56.0	If true, this is devastating.
0:59.0	Have you investigated this before?
1:01.0	If not, would you look at it now?
1:04.0	Certainly, Matt.
	...

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