New Faunalytics Resource: Invertebrate Fundamentals
Faunalytics’ eighth Fundamental looks at the vast world of invertebrates — a category of animals that includes everyone from fruit flies to octopi — explores just how much we don’t know about them, and why it’s vital for us to advocate for them.
The Invertebrate Fundamentals consists of a series of data-driven infographics, and looks at a range of issues that the Faunalytics team feels are the most salient for advocates to consider. In this resource, advocates will find:
A broad discussion of different categories of invertebrates, with quick facts on pollinators, arachnids, and invertebrates from the land and sea.
Public opinion on invertebrates, including a brief overview of the debate over their sentience.
A deep dive into the world of pollinators, threats to extinction, and their importance in a global ecosystem.
A closer look at the variety of land and aquatic invertebrates, how they live, and threats they face.
A look at the use of invertebrates in laboratory research.
A look at entomophagy (the practice of insect eating), as well as their farming on a mass scale.
Please view the Invertebrate Fundamentals for the full details.
Glad to see this added!
I only skimmed so might have missed it but I didn’t see much mention of the use of insects as feed for other factory farmed animals. If I remember correctly from some of RP’s reports, this makes up a very large proportion of both current insect farming and expected growth. This seems like an important dynamic, since e.g. the efficacy of the ‘ick factor’ that this page highlights will presumably be much reduced in that context.
Hi Jamie! Thank you for bringing this up—we do address this in the accompanying blog post to the Fundamental where we touch on what we covered and what we didn’t:
“The third issue is one that we did touch on, but that goes much deeper than we have the space for: the farming of insects for food. It’s a topic that we’ve covered in some depth in the Faunalytics Library, and many people are looking towards “insect protein” as a potential “solution” to the problem of satisfying the protein needs of a growing global population. The global insect protein market in 2022 was worth over $428 million USD, and with an annual growth rate of about 27%, it’s expected to reach over $1.3 billion in the next few years. There are many obstacles standing in the way of the widespread adoption of insect proteins, especially cultural taboos in Western nations — but considering the industry already affects an estimated 1 trillion animals, even small shifts in cultural acceptance have the potential to affect trillions more.”