From cash to conservation: Which wildlife species appear on banknotes?

Abstract

The use of wildlife imagery in society is highly varied and could contribute to reinforcing national identity. Standard depictions of wildlife include photographs, video, artwork and symbols or icons, including on currency. We investigated the representation of native fauna on 4541 banknotes from 207 countries between 1980 and 2017, to identify geographic hotspots and taxonomic patterns and determine whether threatened and endemic species were more readily represented. Native fauna was depicted on 15.2% of banknotes reviewed (352 unique species) with a strong bias towards terrestrial species (89%) and a dominance of bird and mammal species (83% combined). African banknotes had the highest mammal representation while birds were favoured in South America. Globally, threatened species were commonly depicted on banknotes with 30% of all imagery representing these species. The fauna species depicted on banknotes generally perpetuate existing perceptions about these species (i.e., charismatic species). We recommend several avenues for further investigation to explore relationships between perceived value and wildlife representation. These include longitudinal studies of how representation changes over time, the inclusion of flora and/or coin imagery, identifying species-specific traits for selected wildlife and examining the decision-making processes governing wildlife imagery on banknotes. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.