Humans move 40 times more than all wild animals combined.

Humans now move 40 times more around Earth than all terrestrial wildlife combined, a new study finds.

Humans are the 'champions' of moving around the Earth - Photo: STEVE LUXENBERG

From transcontinental flights to daily walks, we are moving the planet primarily with human mass, rather than the migratory flocks or birds of old.

Humans walk better than animals and birds.

According to a research team led by Lior Greenspoon, a PhD student at the Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel), humans now account for about a third of the total biomass of mammals, while livestock and pets make up most of the rest.

Wildlife, including whales, accounts for only about 5%, a number so small that it shows that nature is now just a "small part" in the biological balance of the planet.

From data on the number, weight and annual distance traveled by each species, scientists calculated a concept called "mobility biomass." This is the total body mass multiplied by the distance traveled each year.

The results, published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, have left scientists stunned. The majestic migrations of millions of antelope and zebra across the African savannah, in terms of total mass movement, are comparable only to human mass events such as the Hajj or the World Cup.

Other comparisons are also surprising. About two million Arctic terns migrate almost pole to pole each year, yet their total movement is still smaller than that of gray wolves.

And all of this is tiny compared to the enormous mass of human movement, which amounts to 4,000 billion tonnes x km per year. Meanwhile, all terrestrial wildlife only moves about 100 billion tonnes x km, or 40 times smaller.

Just the "foot movement" of humans such as walking, going to work, moving in daily life is six times the total movement of all animals and birds combined.

And when you add cars, trains, and planes, no species on Earth can match humans in terms of mobility.

Airplanes contribute a lot to the human mobility index on Earth as calculated by the research team - Photo: GRUNGE

Why?

This difference partly reflects the mechanical power that humans generate. The authors say that a large power plant today can produce as much energy as all the energy used by a wild land animal to move.

In the oceans, fish are the dominant biomass, moving around 30 trillion tonnes x km per year, seven times more than humans. But most of these are small species, while the giant whales, which migrate thousands of kilometres, only move as much as the entire population of Germany.

Plankton, despite being the largest biomass group on Earth, move so little that their total movement is only about a quarter that of a human.

The picture was very different in the past. In 1850, the world's population was one-seventh of what it is today, and most people never traveled far from where they were born.

At that time, the biomass of wild animals was twice as much as it is today. But hunting, deforestation and urbanization have caused populations of large mammals and migratory birds to plummet.

Scientists estimate that marine animal migrations have declined by 70% since the 19th century, due to whaling, overfishing and shipping accidents.

This decline is not only a biological loss, but also disrupts natural nutrient cycles: whale feces act as “fertilizer” for the ocean, feeding plankton and helping to absorb carbon from the atmosphere.

Since the Pleistocene ice age, the total biomass of wild animals has fallen to just one-tenth.

In contrast, human and animal biomass has skyrocketed, even though most livestock today are confined to factory farms, barely moving. “Nature has become a minor variable on a human-dominated planet,” the authors write.

Back to topic

HOANG THI

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/con-nguoi-di-chuyen-nhieu-gap-40-lan-toan-bo-dong-vat-hoang-da-20251029191431825.htm