Is this the animal’s full range?

No. It is a choropleth of Wikidata country pins we could attach. Many species have no pin.

What are the orange dots on a species map?

GBIF occurrence-density tiles. They follow where people recorded the taxon, not a habitat model.

Why is a country empty?

We had no structured country field for a catalog animal there. The animal may still occur.

Where the pins are

Updated September 2026

Photograph of Vaquita (Phocoena sinus), recorded as Critically Endangered

An interactive map of countries this catalog can actually attach to an animal. It is not a range atlas of life, and it is not the IUCN distribution GIS.

Each pin starts as a Wikidata “endemic to” statement. If that statement is a lake or a province, we take the country of the place when we can. Species with no such field do not appear here. That is a missing field, not a missing animal. Click a coloured country for its catalog page. On a species dossier, a second map can add GBIF occurrence-density tiles when a usage key exists — those tiles inherit every bias of museum drawers and roadside surveys.

This catalog holds 3,318 animals. 184 countries currently carry at least one pin. Use the map as a door into the dossiers, not as a substitute for the official assessment.

1–4 records 5–14 15–39 40+ No pin

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Quick answers

Is this the animal’s full range?: No. It is a choropleth of Wikidata country pins we could attach. Many species have no pin.
What are the orange dots on a species map?: GBIF occurrence-density tiles. They follow where people recorded the taxon, not a habitat model.
Why is a country empty?: We had no structured country field for a catalog animal there. The animal may still occur.