How many of that animal are there?
The biomass distribution of animals on Earth is dominated by what humans keep, by an enormous margin.
24% of African elephant
100,000 animals is more than 6 of the 10 references on this page.
Reference figures are measurements and are rounded; the unit conversion behind them is exact.
| Reference | Size | Yours ÷ theirs | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| northern white rhino | 2 animals | 50,000× | |
| vaquita | 10 animals | 10,000× | |
| Amur leopard | 120 animals | 833× | |
| mountain gorilla | 1,063 animals | 94.1× | |
| tiger | 5,574 animals | 17.9× | |
| blue whale | 15,000 animals | 6.67× | |
| African elephant | 415,000 animals | 0.241× | |
| humans | 8,100,000,000 animals | 1/81,000 | |
| chickens | 33,000,000,000 animals | 1/330,000 | |
| ants | 2×10¹⁶ animals | 1/200,000,000,000 | A 2022 estimate |
Worth knowing
- There are about four chickens for every human on Earth, and they are killed and replaced roughly every six weeks.
- A 2022 study estimated 20 quadrillion ants alive at any time — about 2.5 million ants for every person.
Frequently asked
How many tigers are left in the wild?
About 5 574 by the most recent global estimate — up from a low of roughly 3 200 in 2010, one of the few genuine conservation successes.
What is the most numerous vertebrate?
By population, small fish like the bristlemouth number in the hundreds of trillions. Among land vertebrates, the domestic chicken wins by an order of magnitude.
How to read this
Population estimates are uncertain and change; these are recent published figures.