Mapping Whale Superhighways

The WWF has launched a new interactive map Blue Corridors that brings 30 years of whale migration data to life. Using the map you can:

🛰️ See where whales travel.

⚠️ Learn what’s putting them at risk.

💙 Discover how we can protect them.

The new Blue Corridors interactive map is designed to support global whale conservation efforts by visualizing decades of scientific data in a way that is accessible, actionable, and urgently relevant. At its core, the map transforms over 30 years of satellite tracking and research into a compelling, interactive experience that allows you to explore whale migration routes, pinpoint major threats, and examine conservation priorities across ocean basins. 

The map is built on 1,429 satellite tracks and over 3.2 million kilometers of migratory data and integrates inputs from more than 50 different research institutions. The platform overlays whale movements with human activities such as shipping, fishing, and pollution to identify high-risk zones, supporting data-driven decisions to mitigate threats like ship strikes and entanglements.

You can interact with the map by species, threats, or regions. The sidebar menu also includes links to news and stories about whale conservation, whale migratory routes and the threats to marine environments.

The Marine Migration Map

tracked migrations of the Green Turtle

Migratory Connectivity in the Ocean (MiCO) is an interactive map visualizing the global migrations of more than 100 species of birds, mammals, turtles and fish. The aim of the map is to bring together knowledge about the migratory routes and connected habitats of marine species, such as marine mammals, seabirds, sea turtles, and fish, in order to help support global conservation efforts.

The MiCO map was compiled by synthesizing decades of animal movement data from over 1,300 scientific studies published between 1990 and 2017. To create the map researchers compiled satellite tracking data from 109 migratory marine species, including seabirds, whales, sea turtles, and fish, collected through animal-borne tags that record and transmit migration routes. These tracking studies, conducted by universities, government agencies, and conservation organizations, have now been aggregated, standardized, and mapped to show key habitats and migratory pathways. 

By bringing together data from over 100 species and 100 studies, MiCO highlights critical corridors and habitats that multiple migratory animals rely on, helping policymakers and conservationists prioritize protection in key areas, especially in international waters where governance is fragmented. It is hoped that MiCO can help foster cross-jurisdictional collaboration, support data-driven policy decisions, and help prioritize conservation actions in both national waters and international seas, where migratory species are most vulnerable yet least protected.

Explore more migratory journey maps through the animal tracking tag

The First Cuckoo of Spring

The Cuckoo Tracking Project

At the end of March, Hafren (a male adult cuckoo) left the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire to begin his epic migration north to England. From Côte d'Ivoire, Hafren skirted the eastern border of Guinea, crossed south-eastern Mali, motored through Mauritania, and—after a journey of around 1,370 miles—arrived in Western Sahara.

By early April, Hafren had reached Mijek in Western Sahara. Over the following days, he continued north, cutting up through Morocco. His path took him near the major cities of Marrakesh and Fes, before reaching the north Moroccan coast near Temsaman commune in Driouch Province on Saturday, 5 April. Hafren's most recent signal shows that he has now set off across the Mediterranean. If all goes well, he should soon arrive in Spain, somewhere between Malaga and Almeria.

Hafren is just one of 15 cuckoos being tracked as part of the British Trust for Ornithology's Cuckoo Tracking Project. Since 2011, the project has tagged more than 100 birds and tracked their annual migratory journeys from the UK to Africa and back again. Now is a great time to check out the project's live tracking map. Male cuckoos typically arrive in Britain towards the end of April or the beginning of May, which means the map is about to become very active. Wilfred and Hafren have already begun their northward journeys, and they will soon be joined by the other 13 cuckoos.

Over the years, the project has uncovered important insights into cuckoo migration. There are two main routes taken by the birds: one through Spain and one via Italy. Data shows that cuckoos migrating via Spain have a higher mortality rate than those taking the Italian route. Interestingly, the birds using the Spanish route also tend to come from areas of the UK where cuckoo populations have declined.

The Flight of the Barn Swallow

This animated gridded occurrence map shows recorded sightings of the Barn Swallow in Europe throughout 2024. The Barn Swallow is one of Europe's most well-known migratory birds, undertaking a long-distance migration between its breeding grounds in Europe and wintering areas in Africa.

On the animated map, you can see Barn Swallows returning to southern Europe in late February and early March. During April and May, they spread northward into central and northern Europe, reaching the UK, Scandinavia, and even parts of Russia.

In August and September, the swallows begin their southward migration as insect availability declines. By late November, most Barn Swallows will have reached their wintering grounds in sub-Saharan Africa, in countries like Senegal, Nigeria, and South Africa.

This animated map of Barn Swallow sightings can be viewed on the EuroBirdPortal (EBP), a collaborative project that compiles and visualizes bird observation data from across Europe. The site integrates millions of records submitted by birdwatchers from multiple online platforms. EBP then creates animated, interactive maps that track bird distributions and movements over the course of a year, offering valuable insights into migration patterns, seasonal changes, and species distributions across the continent.

You can also explore European bird migration patterns on the Bird Migration Atlas. The Bird Migration Atlas is an interactive map that plots the migration patterns of over 300 bird species across two continents: Eurasia and Africa. The map integrates data from historical European ringing schemes and modern tracking technologies to provide a comprehensive view of migration routes across both continents.

You can explore the migration patterns of American bird species on the impressive Bird Migration Explorer. The Bird Migration Explorer is an interactive map that visualizes the migratory patterns of 458 bird species that breed in the United States and Canada. Using this map, you can explore the journeys of individual bird species and discover when different species are likely to migrate through your town or city in North America.

The Bird Migration Atlas

The European Turtle Dove is a relatively small bird, weighing only about 100 grams (3.5 ounces). Despite its size, the European Turtle Dove undertakes an incredible long-distance migration of around 5,000 kilometers (3,000 miles) from Europe to sub-Saharan Africa every year. This remarkable journey, along with the migratory routes of hundreds of other bird species, can be explored in detail on the Bird Migration Atlas.

The Bird Migration Atlas is an interactive map that plots the migration patterns of over 300 bird species across two continents: Eurasia and Africa. The map integrates data from historical European ringing schemes and modern tracking technologies to provide a comprehensive view of migration routes across both continents.

The Overall Connectivity map serves as the starting point for all species, revealing patterns of migratory connectivity. It highlights how birds from different geographic regions move, considering variations by age and sex. This map visualizes broad migratory trends, such as seasonal routes and key stopover sites that birds use during their journeys. Users can toggle additional layers for a more nuanced view, such as tracking data (where available), to better understand the specific migratory routes of individual species.

The By Region map allows for a deeper examination of bird movements based on where they were originally ringed and where they have been recovered. By color-coding encounters according to European ringing regions, this tool makes it easier to trace how individuals from specific populations migrate. The inclusion of tracking data (from sources like Movebank) further enriches the visual representation by displaying precise movement patterns, such as those derived from satellite transmitters or geolocators.

You can explore the migration patterns of American bird species on the impressive Bird Migration Explorer. The Bird Migration Explorer is an interactive map that visualizes the migratory patterns of 458 bird species that breed in the United States and Canada. Using the map, you can explore the journeys of individual bird species and discover when different species are likely to migrate through your town or city.

The Bird Migration Explorer allows you to view animated maps showing the full migration routes of these 458 species. By entering a location into the interactive map, you can also discover which bird species migrate to or through that location and when they are most likely to be seen.

The Butterfly Superhighway

Every year, millions of Monarch butterflies undertake an epic journey across North America, traveling thousands of miles from their breeding grounds in the United States and Canada to their wintering habitats in central Mexico. In the spring, they then return to their northern locations in the United States and Canada.

What makes this migration even more astonishing is that no single butterfly completes the entire round trip. The Monarch migration is an extraordinary multi-generational journey, a relay race across generations, with each butterfly passing the baton to its offspring. The entire migration is too long for a single butterfly to complete in its lifetime and it takes multiple generations of Monarch butterflies to complete the journey north. Although a super-generation does make the entire return journey from North America to the wintering grounds in Mexico.

The Butterfly Superhighway invites you to join these incredible creatures on their long journey. The Butterfly Superhighway uses Google Earth and Google Street View to create a series of virtual Monarch butterfly migration journeys. By selecting one of the white route-line maps shown on the homepage, users can follow each incredible migratory journey across North America through a sequence of Street View panoramas and transitional 3D fly-overs captured on Google Earth.

I suspect there is no real map-coding involved in the Butterfly Superhighway. It seems that each migratory journey is simply a series of connected screen recordings made on Google Earth. Despite this, Butterfly Superhighway offers a visually engaging and accessible introduction to the Monarch butterfly's migration. However, "introduction" might be the operative word here, as the Butterfly Superhighway feels like a landing page for a broader website on Monarch butterflies - a website that has yet to be fully developed.

Via: Webcurios

2½ Half Weeks with Mrs Rauer

Mrs Rauer's Journey is a fantastic story-map which follows the journey of a female osprey, named Mrs Rauer, as she migrates  halfway around the world from Oslofjord, Norway to the Western Sahara. 

Mrs Rauer's 18 day journey is fraught with danger. Of the eleven ospreys GPS tagged by Østfold University College only Mrs Rauer is still alive. Now, during her 5,700 km mile migration, Mrs Rauer will have to contend with deadly wind turbines in the English Channel, Spanish poachers and land mines in the Sahara. To help visualize the dangers to migratory birds NRK has overlaid their map with millions of red dots, each one marking the death of an individual bird.

According to NRK there are now 600 million fewer birds in Europe than there were forty years ago. Luckily Mrs Rauer successfully completed her journey to the Western Sahara and in April of this year she managed to successfully complete the return journey to Norway. In even better news in 2023 she managed to rear a female chick and an adopted male chick, before departing once more for the Sahara in September.

How Climate Change Affects Bird Migration

The Copernicus Earth Observation Programme has been examining how climate change is affecting the migratory habits of a number of different species of birds. Human created climate change is having a huge effect on wildlife and the ecosystems on which we and they depend. Around 50% of bird species migrate, traveling huge distances between breeding and wintering grounds. These migratory patterns are influenced by environmental triggers, such as the length of the day and changing temperatures. 

In Birds in a Changing World the Copernicus Earth Observation Programme uses a number of animated interactive maps to show how global warming is affecting the migratory patterns of a number of specific bird species. In particular maps are used to show how the migration dates of Barn Swallows, Black Kites, European Bee Eaters and White Storks have changed over the last 40 years in repsonse to changes in the climate.

You can learn more about the migration patterns of American bird species on the impressive Bird Migration Explorer. The Bird Migration Explorer is a new interactive map that visualizes the migratory patterns of 458 bird species that breed in the United States and Canada. Using the map you can explore the journeys of individual bird species and discover when different species of birds are likely to migrate through your town or city.

 

The Bird Migration Explorer allows you to view animated maps showing the full migration of these 458 species of birds. Enter a location into the interactive map and you can also discover which bird species migrate to or through that location and what time of year that they are most likely to be seen.

The Bird Migration Explorer uses data from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s eBird Status models and from other data sources. eBird Status and Trends collects and documents data on bird distribution, abundance, habitat use, and trends. It has detailed information on more than 1,000 bird species around the world. 

In July eBird updated its own Bird Status maps so that they can also be used to view the migratory journeys of individual bird species. Select a species of bird on the eBird Status and Trends webpage and you can view an interactive map which shows the species' 'Abundance', 'Range' and 'Habitat'. If you select the 'Weekly' option you can actually watch an animated map showing the species' relative abundance for every week of the year, revealing each individual species' annual migratory patterns.

Benjamin Becquet has used data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility to create a mesmerizing animated map visualizing the annual migration patterns of ten different bird species. His Bird Tracking Map uses time-stamped GPS data to reveal the annual migratory journeys of ten different species traveling between Africa and Europe. 

Press the play button on Benjamin's map and you can watch how these different bird species journey back and forth between northern Europe and southern Europe/Africa over the course of a single year. As the map animates through the year the Spring and Autumn migratory patterns of each species of bird becomes apparent on the map.

The Bird Migration Explorer

American bird species are beginning to or have already begun their Fall migrations. This year you can learn more about the migratory journeys of over 450 different species of birds on Audubon's new Bird Migration Explorer. 

The Bird Migration Explorer is a new interactive map that visualizes the migratory patterns of 458 bird species that breed in the United States and Canada. Using the map you can explore the journeys of individual bird species and discover when different species of birds are likely to migrate through your town or city. 

The Bird Migration Explorer allows you to view animated maps showing the full migration of all 458 species of birds. Enter a location into the interactive map and you can also discover which bird species migrate to or through that location and what time of year that they are most likely to be seen.

The Bird Migration Explorer uses data from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s eBird Status models and from other data sources. eBird Status and Trends collects and documents data on bird distribution, abundance, habitat use, and trends. It has detailed information on more than 1,000 bird species around the world. 

In July eBird updated its own Bird Status maps so that they can also be used to view the migratory journeys of individual bird species. Select a species of bird on the eBird Status and Trends webpage and you can view an interactive map which shows the species' 'Abundance', 'Range' and 'Habitat'. If you select the 'Weekly' option you can actually watch an animated map showing the species' relative abundance for every week of the year, revealing that individual species' annual migratory patterns.

The Migatory Map of the White-Tailed Eagle

Benjamin Becquet has used data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility to create a mesmerizing animated map visualizing the annual migration patterns of ten different bird species. His Bird Tracking Map uses time-stamped GPS data to reveal the annual migratory journeys of ten different species traveling between Africa and Europe. 

Press the play button on Benjamin's map and you can watch how these different bird species journey back and forth between northern Europe and southern Europe/Africa over the course of a single year. As the map animates through the year the Spring and Autumn migratory patterns of each species of bird becomes apparent on the map.  

The map can be filtered to show only the migratory journey of any single species of bird or any combination from the ten different species. The map also includes a speed button which controls the speed that the time-stamped GPS data is animated on the map. 

If you are interested in the migratory journeys of birds then you might also enjoy eBird's maps of individual bird species migrations. The eBird Status and Trends webpage allows you to view animated maps which show the migratory journeys undertaken every year by thousands of individual species of bird.

The World's Most Threatened Flypath

The East Asian-Australasian flyway stretches from New Zealand in the Southern Hemisphere to Arctic Russia in the Northern Hemisphere. It is one of the eight major north-south migratory corridors used by birds. Around a third of all migratory bird species in the world use the flyway during their annual migrations. It is also home to around a third of the world's human population. Wherein lies the problem. The rapid expansion of urban environments along the flyway is having a dramatic effect on the environment.

In East Asia over 50% of all waterbird species who depend on wetland environments are in decline. You can learn more about the East-Australasian flyway and its importance to bird migration on CNN's The Planet's Most Threatened Flypath. CNN's investigation into the effect of urban expansion on the flyway and its impact on migratory bird species uses a number of maps to illustrate the migratory journeys taken by different bird species in this part of the world. 

The CNN report also looks at a new $3 billion Regional Flyway Initiative to restore and protect wetlands in the region. The project plans to restore 50 wetlands along the flyway route in the hope that it will help both bird species and biodiversity to recover. 

If you are interested in the migratory journeys of birds then you might also enjoy eBird's maps of individual bird species migrations. The eBird Status and Trends webpage allows you to view animated maps which show the migratory journeys undertaken every year by thousands of individual species of bird.

The Migratory Journeys of Birds

eBird collects and documents data on bird distribution, abundance, habitat use, and trends. It has detailed information on more than 1,000 bird species around the world. This week eBird has updated its Bird Status maps so that they are now all interactive. 

Select a species of bird on the eBird Status and Trends webpage and you can view an interactive map which shows the species' 'Abundance', 'Range' and 'Habitat'. If you select the 'Weekly' option you can actually watch an animated map showing the species' relative abundance for every week of the year, revealing the species' migratory patterns.

If you are interested in bird migratory journeys then you can dive deeper into different bird species abundance patterns on eBird's Abundance Animations page. This section of the eBird website provides examples of abundance animations for a number of different bird species. For example the animation above shows the weekly abundance of the Gray-cheeked Thrush over the course of one year. Gray-cheeked Thrushes migrate to northern South America in winter. They then spend the summer months in Alaska and Canada.

The Globe of Bird Migration is a mapped visualization of the migratory paths of 11 different species of birds around the world. The simplified migratory paths of each of the 11 bird species are animated on a 3d globe over the course of twelve months. 

You can select to view the path of any of the 11 species using the menu on the left of the globe. When you select a species from the list you can view a few details about the birds' estimated population and conservation status. You can also discover where it breeds and winters and how far the species migrates.

The 3d globe was custom coded for the visualization using the Unity WebGL engine and 3DS Max.

Driving Directions for Birds

If you are planning a long car journey then it is important that you take frequent breaks. The UK's Highway Code recommends taking a break of at least 15 minutes every two hours when driving. Probably the most relaxing way to break a long car journey is by doing a little bird-spotting. Which is where BirdTrippin comes in.

BirdTrippin is a route planning map which can not only show you how to get from A to B it can also recommend bird spotting opportunities along your route. Enter a starting point and a destination into BirdTrippin and it will add recent bird sightings which are near your route. You can then click on any of the bird markers shown on the map and BirdTrippin will automatically update your route to take in your chosen bird spotting opportunities.

The birds populating the BirdTrippin map appear to be retrieved using the eBird API. The eBird API allows developers to retrieve a list of recent interesting bird sightings (up to 30 days ago) of birds seen in a country, state, county, or location. This suggests that the birds shown on the map are ones that have been spotted in the last few weeks. Which means that you presumably won't be directed to view a migratory bird when it is out of season. eBird collects bird sightings from around the world - so BirdTrippin should work in most countries.

The Big Butterfly Count

So far over a million butterflies have been counted in this year's Big Butterfly Count. Every year in the UK the Butterfly Conservation organization asks the public to take part in a national survey into the health of the UK's butterfly species by spending 15 minutes counting butterflies. This year's Big Butterfly Count is from the 16th July to the 8th August.

Since 1976 76% of UK butterfly species have declined in either occurrence or abundance. This is of concern both for the health of these butterfly species but also for other wildlife species and the overall environment. It is therefore important to continue to monitor the health and abundance of the UK's different species of butterfly. 

You can view the progress of the Big Butterfly Count for yourself on the project's interactive map. Using the Big Butterfly Count map you can explore the butterfly sightings submitted by citizen scientists across the UK. You can filter the butterflies by species and by date to view where and when different butterflies have been spotted across the country. So far this year the Small White has been the most common species of butterfly reported to the map. Closely followed by the Big White and the Meadow Brown.

The Big Butterfly Count is a fantastic example of the advances being made in lepidopterology. Unfortunately the earliest lepidopterist were not so humane in their surveying methodology. In the early days of lepidopterology the main way to study and categorize butterflies was through capturing and pinning examples of butterfly species. 

This practice is evident on the Natural History Museum's Big Butterfly Count map. This interactive map shows the locations of a selection of the digitized butterfly and moth specimens in the Natural History Museum's collection. If yo click on a marker on this map you can view a picture of the butterfly collected from this location and click through to read more about the species and the date of its collection.

The Cuckoo Flying the Nest

Because the European common cuckoo is an obligate brood parasite and lays its eggs in the nests of other birds it is free to migrate south much earlier than other species of birds. In early summer, when most other bird species are busy raising their young (and sometimes the young of cuckoos), the adult cuckoo is able to begin its migration to Africa. Adult cuckoos in Europe are among the first bird species to begin their migrations. For example in the UK most cuckoos begin flying south in June.Which is great news for anyone who is interested in tracking the progress of migrating Cuckoos.

The British Trust for Ornithology's Cuckoo Tracking Project is currently mapping the migration of twelve European common cuckoos on their journey from the UK to their wintering grounds in the Congo basin of central Africa.The map shows the latest recorded location of each bird and the route they have taken from the UK. The map also includes a playback feature which allows you to watch each bird's entire journey from the 2nd May animated on the map. 

Over the last couple of weeks eyebrows have been raised over the movements of one of the tracked cuckoos. Around the middle of July the cuckoo name Attenborough (in honor of the famous natural historian and broadcaster) decided to suddenly take a massive detour in an easterly direction. He left Spain and flew via Sicily to Greece. This is quite a detour on his journey to his hopeful destination in the Congo basin. 

A cuckoo flying from the UK to central Africa will typically fly travel around 5,000 miles. This is an epic journey but not as far as the migrations taken by the cuckoos who migrate from Mongolia to eastern Africa every year. Mongolian cuckoos make migratory journeys of around 7,500 miles to and from Africa. 

In 2019 the Mongolia Cuckoo Project tracked five cuckoos migrating from Mongolia to Africa. These five birds included a cuckoo called Onon, who made a 16,155 mile migratory round trip to Africa and back to Mongolia. This was one of the longest recorded journeys made by any land bird. 

On Onon's epic journey he visited China, India, and Saudi Arabia. Unfortunately he was the only one of the five tracked birds in the Mongolia Cuckoo Project who successfully made the full round trip. Onon himself is suspected to have died the following year. His tag stopped transmitting in southern Yemen in September 2020.

The Animated Map of Bird Migrations

The Bird Migration Map 2018 is an animated visualization of the mass movement of bird migrations across Europe during the whole of 2018. Using the map you can explore the movements of millions of birds over Europe over the course of one whole year.

On the map scaled arrows are used to show the direction and speed of birds migrating across Europe, flying south for the winter and north for the summer. The colored squares on the map show the density of migrating birds. Along the bottom of the map is a timeline which allows you to explore the migratory data by date or to view an animation of Europe's bird migration over the whole of 2018.If you click on a location on the map you can view data on the current values of density and flight speed.

The data for the map comes from the European weather radar network. This network consist of 37 weather radars in France, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. The data reveals the flights of migratory birds between 13 February 2018 and 1 January 2019. Using the weather radar data it is possible to collect vertical profiles of bird density, flight speed and flight direction. The 37 weather radars provide point observations so interpolations are made to calculate the movement and density of the bird migrations between the stations.

Tracking Elephants Tusks with GPS

In order to help reveal the routes used by illegal elephant tusk smugglers National Geographic created artificial tusks, embedded with GPS tracking technology. African elephants are currently under seige from smugglers who can make a fortune feeding China's insatiable demand for ivory. In Tanzania 60% of elephants have been slaughtered in the last 5 years and in Mozambique 48% of the elephants have been slaughtered. In many places in Africa this illegal trade in elephant tusks is being driven by militias and terrorist groups.

In Tracking the Illegal Tusk Trade National Geographic has mapped out some of the routes being used to smuggle elephant tusks out of Africa. These routes were discovered by planting artificial tusks in the supply chain. By mapping the smuggling routes taken by these artificial tusks alongside the reported locations of terrorist organizations National Geographic shows what appears to be a clear connection between the illegal trade in elephant tusks and African militias and terrorist groups. Groups who use this trade to finance their violent operations.

The National Geographic story accompanying the maps of the illegal smuggling routes explores how Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army is killing elephants in order to be able to afford guns and ammunition. Kony is one of Africa’s most wanted terrorists. In 2015 The Guardian estimated that Kony was responsible for the deaths of over 100,000 people and the abduction of at least 60,000 children in Uganda.

Cicada Mapping

Every 17 years cicada nymphs in the eastern United States emerge en masse from underground. For a few weeks the adult cicadas fly around, make a lot of noise, have sex and lay eggs. Then they die - not to be seen again for another 17 years. 

Brood X cicadas have this month been spotted in Washington, D.C., and in surrounding areas such as Virginia and Maryland. They have also emerged in Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania. You can keep up with the latest sightings of Brood X cicadas for yourself on Mount St. Joseph University's Cicada Map.

The Cicada Map shows all the locations where cicadas have been reported using the University's citizen science app - Cicada Safari. Cicada Safari is a cell phone app which has been released to help track the emergence and locations of this year's brood of cicadas. The app allows anyone to photograph and report the location of cicadas that they spot in the wild. After the photos have been verified they are then posted to the Cicada Map.

Brood X is the largest of the 17-year cicada broods. They should emerge and be seen and heard in at least 15 states across the eastern United States.

Where to Discover New Life

If you've ever dreamed of increasing the pool of knowledge by discovering a new species of animal then I have the map for you. The Map of Life's new Discovery Potential layer uses knowledge of the current known species existing in different habitats around the world to predict where new species might be discovered. 

The Discovery Potential map includes four different layers which visualize the potential of discovering new species of mammals, birds, reptiles or amphibians around the world. In general tropical forests have the highest potential for the discovery of new animal species. Which is one of the reasons that it is important that we protect the rain forests of Brazil, Indonesia, Madagascar and Colombia from further deforestation. 

The Map of Life includes other map layers which help to show where in the world animal habitats most need protection. For example, the Map of Life's Biodiversity Patterns section provides heat maps showing species richness around the world for birds and mammals. These biodiversity maps also show areas where some form of conservation protection already exists. The maps can therefore be used to identify areas where species richness is at risk and where habitat conservation protection is lacking or failing. 

You can explore the diversity of an animal species in any country by selecting an area on the Map Of Life Regions map (in the USA and Canada you can explore down to state or province level). If you click on a country on the map you can view a breakdown of the number of bird, mammal and reptile species found in the selected country. If you select the Map of Life Species tab then you can view the a habitat range map for the selected species, showing the areas of the world where that species lives.

On Virtual Safari

 

At the moment, if you live in the UK, it is illegal to travel abroad on holiday. Which means that this year my African safari has to be virtual.Luckily for me I can explore the Who Cares interactive map, which features a number of animals who are currently in danger of becoming extinct.

The Who Cares map provides a snapshot of an African savannah. Hidden on this Who Cares map of the savannah are ten different animal species. While on safari your job is to take a photograph of each animal and in return you can learn a little more about each animal and its current conservation status.

Your task is to hunt for  ten different animals who are currently living in the African savannah. When you discover one of the endangered animals featured on the map you just need to capture it in a photograph. Successfully take a picture of one of the animals and an information window will open with details on the species. This includes information on its current conservation status and how many individual animals of the species still exist.