Mammal emoji

Seeing the presence of foxes on the upcoming emoji list, I remembered the
Audubon Mammals (North America) app has silhouettes of mammals on the
browse by shape tab. So let's see if they're covered:

Armored Mammals (-): Okay, we're off to a bad start. The image here is sort
of porcupine-ish, and there's two distinct creatures under the label, the
porcupine(-) and armadillo(-). Neither of which are in Unicode.

Bats (N): In the new list. Which is good; they're sort of iconic.

Bears(+)

Cats(+): Several varieties

Chipmunks, Squirrels and Prairie Dogs(+): Breaking down more than icons the
app uses, there is a Chipmunk(+) emoji, no Squirrel(-) emoji; that might be
an oversight. Prairie dogs(-) probably aren't.

Hoofed Mammals(+): Breaking it down more Bison(-), Sheep(+), Reindeer (-)
(and that's sort of surprising), Peccary(-), Deer(N), Moose(-) (aka Elk in
Europe), Ox(+) (actually Muskox ... and I'm pretty sure that's a
distinction Unicode doesn't want to worry about), Pronghorn (-) (nor
antelope(-), or the actually related giraffe(-) and okapi(-). Probably
covered by the unrelated deer.) Boar(+), Horse(+)

Large Rodents(-): Beaver(-), Muskrat(-), Marmot(-), Nutria(-)

Marine Mammals(+): Dolphin(+), Whale(+), Seal (-), Sea Lion(-), Walrus(-),
Manatee(-)

Mice and Rats(+): Mouse(+), Rat(+)

Opossum(-):

Otters(-):

Rabbits and Hares(+):

Raccoons and Their Kin(-):

Shrews and Moles(-):

Voles, Lemmings, Pikas, and Pocket Gophers(-):

Weasels, Skunks and Their Kin(-): While a disparate group, badgers(-),
skunks(-), ferrets(-), weasels(-) and wolverines(-) all have arguments for
encoding.

Wolves, Foxes, and Coyote(+): Fox(+), Dog(+), Wolf(+), Coyote(-)

So nine icons out of the 17 have a reasonable encoding in Unicode. To cover
the set would need an armadillo or porcupine, a beaver, a possum, an otter,
a raccoon, a shrew, a lemming, and a weasel or skunk. Beavers (O Canada!),
raccoons, ferrets/weasel (popular pet) and skunk (emoji uses abound)
probably have the best encoding arguments there.

(This is not an actual proposal, but feel free to forward it on if anyone
might want to make one. Just a discussion of a set of icons in the
reflection of emoji.)
Received on Sun Mar 06 2016 - 22:57:29 CST